


More Than Us

by NotEvenCloseToStraight



Series: More Than Forever Verse [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Pepper Potts, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Bonus Chapter, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes Remembers, Developing Polyamory, Established Pepperony, Knotting, M/M, More Than Words Verse, Mutant Tony Stark, No Broken Hearts (I promise!), Omega Bucky Barnes, Omega Tony Stark, Protective Steve Rogers, Recently defrosted Steve Rogers, Relationship Negotiations, Reunions, Rough Sex, Soulmates, Unrequited love (they think), Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, established stucky, feral steve rogers, tony finds steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:55:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29055489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/pseuds/NotEvenCloseToStraight
Summary: From the Post-Credit Scene in MTW:It took months, but Omega!Tony Stark has finally found Captain America buried under the ice. But when the Captain wakes up it becomes obvious that the 'super soldier serum' was actually 'mutant serum', that the Captain runs alot closer to feral Alpha than anyone ever thought possible and that Tony and Pepper might be in over their heads.Confused by the new century and ready to burn SHIELD to the ground as revenge for putting him in the ice, The Captain is distracted only by the idea that his mate Bucky is somehow still alive. Steve begs Tony to help find him so he'll have a piece of home and comfort again, but when the Captain suddenly imprints 'mate' on an already bonded Tony, everything gets complicated.Tony is happy mated to Pepper, but he can't help responding the Alpha. How is he supposed to tell a hundred year old super soldier 'no', when deep in his heart he only wants to say yes to the Captain and to the wild eyed Omega Steve brings home from Hydra?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: More Than Forever Verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2131650
Comments: 68
Kudos: 240





	1. Chapter 1

The Parker kid coming to visit turned Tony’s entire life upside down, and for weeks afterwards the Omega couldn’t sleep, hardly wanted to eat, spent hours poring at old files left over from Howard’s time at SHIELD and days looking up the same names and same time frames over and over. 

Damn nosy Omega, dredging up long buried memories and the sort of obsession Tony had tried to put behind him for decades now. Forty years old and he was still staring at posters of Captain America, still staring into the blue eyes and pressing at his heart when it twinged uncomfortably.

Only young Omegas were supposed to get butterflies over pictures of celebrities, right? 

_Right_. 

Except Peter had shown up and asked some bold questions, some _interesting_ questions, the sort of questions Tony used to ask back before Howard had gotten angry and impatient and _roared_ for the young Omega to stop asking about things he’d never understand. 

Tony had _wanted_ to understand though, he wanted to know about Project Rebirth and the mutant serums, he wanted to know about blacked out files and why his Dad stared at maps of the Arctic Ocean and drank for hours and _hours_ at night. 

He wanted to _know_ but eventually Howard’s shouting had discouraged him enough to move on, and Tony grew into wanting to know _other_ things. In fact, by the time Peter Parker arrived with his notebooks and enquiries about Cable and mutants, reeking of mate sick and time travel and clearly desperate for information, Tony hadn’t thought about Project Rebirth in _years_. 

Not in _years_.

But after the kid’s visit, everything came rushing right back-- whirling around Tony’s brain and chipping away at his patience, making him half crazy all over again with the all consuming need to _know_.

“Dad used to talk about him.” Tony said to no one in particular, talking out loud in the quiet room. “Used to ramble on about him all the time, and then one day Dad just stopped talking. All the pictures disappeared from our house, all the research was shuffled away or locked in storage. I always figured it ended up in the basement at SHIELD and I meant to go looking when I was old enough, but I guess I got busy and forgot.” 

“Your father used to talk about who, my love?” Pepper looked up from her desk with a half-expectant expression, then frowned when she saw her mate lying flat on the couch, every metal or steel decoration from around the room liquefied and swirling in lazy patterns above his head. “Tony, you know I hate when you do that. If your powers skip and everything solidifies mid air, it will land like a brick on your face and wreck my favorite thing about you.” 

“Your favorite thing about me is my butt.” the mutant kept right on spinning the liquid metal, twisting it into knots with nothing more than his mind, eyes glowing bright blue with the force of his powers. “And my butt is perfectly safe right now.” 

“My favorite thing about you is your smile and that brilliant brain of yours.” the Alpha left her desk and joined her mate on the couch, reached up to wave her fingers through the serpentine designs and smiled when the Omega immediately switched the direction of the movement so none of the metal brushed her skin. “Now tell me what you’re thinking about, because I’ve had about enough of this behavior. You’ve been sullen and bratty--” 

“--Oh, I think the words you’re looking for are _thoughtful_ and _pensive_ \--” 

“--and basically intolerable since Mr. Parker left.” Pepper finished. “And now you’re talking about your Dad? What’s going on?” 

“What’s ‘going on’ is my Dad spent the better part of fifty years searching for Captain Rogers and the cyborg Omega.” Tony finally released the metal, waved his hand and resettled the pieces into a beautifully unique sculpture on the end table. “He quit developing weapons and focused wholeheartedly on tech, specifically radar and GPS/ Pops was there when they put the first satellite in the air. He designed the navigation system on the Apollo 11. Everything he worked on after the Manhattan Project was meant to _find_ someone, to make sure no one would ever be lost again. The guilt over Project Rebirth and what they did with the _Valkyrie_ ate him up inside.” 

“Mmhmm.” the Alpha hummed quietly and switched to petting through her mate’s hair, scratching lightly at his scalp. “And after Mr. Parker came along with his notebook full of questions, you cannot stop thinking about your father and the Project and the still unknown fate of the unfortunate Captain Rogers?” 

“My Dad spent almost fifty years searching for Captain Rogers and the cyborg Omega.” Tony repeated and Pepper’s eyebrows rose when his dark eyes flickered blue again. “How uh-- how long do you think it will take me?” 

“Oh no, you can’t be serious.” Pepper pulled away, her own eyes shifting gold as her dragon stirred anxiously. “Tony, you can’t be serious! That is an absolutely insane idea!” 

“Why can’t I be serious?” Tony tilted his head back and grinned knowingly up at his mate. “Hey now, you’re looking a little bitey there, Ms. Potts. Easy does the dragon-side, hm?” 

“Don’t you ‘easy does the dragon-side’ me, Tony Stark!” The always lovely Ms. Potts wasn’t just formidable in her Louis Vuittons commanding a boardroom, the mutant Alpha came from a long line of _dragons_ and though it had been ages since Tony had given the redhead a reason to scale up and blow smoke, he always thought she was most beautiful sprouting wings and getting fangy.

Unfortunately for Tony, no compliment in the world would de-escalate the situation once Pepper had _gotten fangy_ , and today was no exception. 

“My mate.” _There_ was the glint of fangs, the roll of a growl in Pepper’s voice as she paced through the office. “If your father with all the greatest tech in the world at his disposal couldn’t find Captain Rogers after fifty years, why would _you_ be able to?” 

“Because I’m smarter than Dad.” Tony tried to be sassy, and got a warning snarl and a flicker of scales in response. “Okay, we’re not in the mood to laugh yet. Got it.” 

“Project Rebirth wasn’t just scrubbed from the history books, my love. Everyone-- and I do mean _everyone_ \--” she raised her voice pointedly. “--associated with the project is dead under less than natural circumstances. You looked into this, your _father_ looked into this. In the riots and the attempts to wipe out the mutant population in the 70’s, every person associated with Project Rebirth ended up dead as well.” 

“Every person except my Dad.” The Omega nodded. “And his and Mama’s car accident was less of an accident and more of a strategically organized series of devastating coincidences. I know.” 

“Mm-hmm, you do know.” Pepper’s voice gentled just a notch in deference to the late Mr. and Mrs. Stark. “And you also know that since your father’s passing and resulting absence from the board of directors for SHIELD, that particular agency has done everything in it's power to erase or silence any connection to mutants, to mutant research, to human experiments-- honestly there’s no such thing as a _file_ in that place from before the riots in the seventies. They erased decades of atrocities and pretended there was a clean slate to start on.” 

“Instead of acknowledging all their work came by way of piles of corpses.” Tony nodded again. “I know. The files I keep locked downstairs are the only remaining copies from that time period.”

“And you know that current Director Nicholas Fury not only can’t stand you--” Pepper pointed a finger at her mate. “-- but even if he _wanted_ to help you, he couldn’t. There’s no research besides what you have, and those documents haven’t been much help. No history beyond what you remember Howard telling you and those stories only came to light after he was good and drunk for the evening. There’s no way for you to start this search without dredging up years and years of--” 

“--emotional distress caused by following in Howard’s footsteps, while possibly finding out that my parents _were_ in fact killed by a faction of psychos hiding within SHIELD.” Tony interrupted, and literal _smoke_ came from the dragon shifter’s nose. “Not to mention I’ll most likely be branded a traitor and/or tried for treason for doing what I’ll have to do to find the information I want, and then will definitely end up on a United Nations most wanted list for all the treaties I’ll break by blowing up half the Arctic circle in an attempt to find a mutant serum jacked soldier they secretly tried to kill back in the forties after they lost control of what was at best, an attempt to play God and at worst, the creation of actual demons.” 

The Omega blew out a deep breath and sat up, ran both hands through his hair and then with fingertips sparking electric blue, melted the sculpture at the end table and crafted into into a circle in front of him, a beautifully silver star pulsing in the center. 

“It wasn’t his fault, they never should have put that plane down.” he muttered, and slowly slowly, Pepper scaled down out of her partial shift, quit blowing smoke and blinked her eyes back to green. “All those nights Dad spent drinking and staring at maps, he always said the same thing. ‘It wasn’t the kids fault’. He always swore if he’d known what they were going to do with Steve Rogers, he would have pulled the plug on the program. And then he swore he would have kicked Steve in the butt and refused to let him try out. At first he thought the end result would be worth all the mutants they recruited and all the powers they pulled to create the serum but after what happened with Steve…” 

Tony swallowed hard. “Dad never really told me what happened to shift the General’s intentions towards the Captain. One day the man was a goddamn hero, the next they were planning how to get rid of him. All the research and notes from that time period are gone so all l I know is that after the Commandos captured Zola, Captain Rogers started slipping and eventually they had no choice but to put him down.” 

“Put him down.” Pepper echoed. “You mean by crashing the _Valkyrie_.” 

“Sure. Cos how do you kill a man you created to be indestructible?” The Omega shrugged miserably, twisted the metal star around in a circle. “You bury him alive in a place where he can’t be found and hope _time_ does the job for you.” 

“Time.” the Alpha tapped at her bottom lip, mouth pursing uncertainly. “Tony. Do you think Captain Rogers is still alive?” 

“I do.” Tony’s smile wasn’t a smile at all, more of a miserable sort of grimace. “It might have been the only thing me and Dad ever agreed on. Somewhere under that ice-pack, Captain Rogers is still alive. No doubt about it.”

“You think you can find him after all this time?” Pepper’s lovely features washed pale at the horror of someone surviving for eighty years in the cold. “That could take years. Do you even know where to begin?” 

“I’ll figure it out.” The shield-like metal design flipped in on itself before straightening out again. “I have to know, Pep. Mr. Parker had to know too, remember him saying that? He had to _know_ , and that’s why he risked his life to meet Cable, traveled both ways through time and then showed up on our doorstep asking insane questions because he had to have answers. He had to know.” 

“And now _you_ have to know.” A wrinkle of confusion at Pepper’s brow. “I don’t understand. The story of Captain Rogers is tragic, but we know all the pieces to it. Beyond the obvious tragedy of a man trapped in what can only be unimaginable conditions, why do you have to know about Captain Rogers so badly?” 

Tony was quiet for a long time, long enough that Pepper leaned in to check her mate’s scent and then crooned worriedly when she found it washed with _grief_. 

“My love?” 

“Oh my love.” Tony scratched wearily at his fancy cut goatee. “Ms. Pepper Potts, you are my entire world. My soulmate, my _Alpha_ mate, my wife. You are everything I could never be, our mutations are perfectly matched-- fire and iron, we are _perfect_ together and you are everything I need. But--” 

“ _But_?” 

“But I’m sorry.” Tony tried to smile again. “Pep, my mate, I’m sorry. You are everything I’ve ever wanted but I have to find Captain Rogers. I’m not saying it’s romantic or that he and I are meant to be mates, I don’t know what I’m saying about it. I’m just saying I have to know. I _have_ to. It’s like an empty feeling right here in my chest. It disappeared for a long time after I met you, but after Peter came with his questions I-- I can’t shake it.” 

He spread his hands helplessly. “I can’t shake it, and I’m sorry. I have to know.” 

This time Pepper was quiet, and the star at the center of the Omega mutant’s mid air art shuddered uncertainly. 

“Alpha.” Tony whispered after a long minute. “Alpha, tell me no and I’ll stop. I’ll push this idea right back down to the bottom of the pile along with the whole thing about twenty foot stuffed animals or the compound upstate. I’ll do it. Just tell me no.” 

“Omega, I’ve never told you no a day in your life.” Pepper finally answered, and the mouthy Omega immediately countered, “You tell me no twice before your first cup of coffee.” 

“I never tell you no about important things.” she argued back and Tony smiled, held out both hands for his Alpha and leaned back to make room on his lap so she could curl into his arms. 

“So then.” Pepper tucked her nose into Tony’s throat and open mouth inhaled at her mate’s scent, smiled when she felt the Omega shiver and try to mold in tighter to her frame. “You have to know about Captain Rogers despite the danger and redacted files, the bureaucratic red tape and the possibility of being tried for treason for retrieving what is the equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction from what is supposed to be neutral territory above the Arctic circle? You’re going to risk all of that to find a super soldier?” 

“I’m going to risk all of that to find a boy from Brooklyn who gave his entire life for a country that took away his soul and then abandoned him to the dark.” Tony leaned around his mate, snapped his fingers towards the still hovering circle and star and in a _blink_ the metal shattered into a thousand tiny beads, scattering all over the office floor. “It’s time to bring him home, Pepper. Captain Rogers has been sleeping long enough. You with me on this?” 

“Always.” the Alpha tipped his chin up and kissed him gently. “But if that Alpha so much as growls your way I will dragon up and serve his star spangled ass as bar-be-cue, do you understand?” 

“My Lady Dragon, I _thoroughly_ understand.” 

“Let’s bring him home then.” 

************

************

It took months. 

Even for a man like Tony Stark-- an Omega who had actual billions of dollars at his disposal, a businessman who not only owned the patents to the worlds most advanced technology but had also invented almost everything on the list, a genius with an intellect that bordered on unbelievable and a sense of focus that bordered on obsessive-- even for a man like Tony Stark, the search took _months_. 

But in the end, patience and obsession and the need to _know_ prevailed. 

“The good news, I did it forty nine years faster than Howard.” Tony stood at the window of the temperature controlled chamber he’d installed in the basement of the Tower, watching closely as the degrees on the thermostat ticked slowly upwards. “You’d think that would make me happy. Finally got one up on the old man. Managed to locate the _Valkyrie_ , managed to get through the ice without compromising the stability of the shelf or letting anyone in on what I was doing. I _really_ enjoyed getting to tell the President of the United States that I didn’t have to share my toys. That was a good day.”

“Bratty Omega, we all know how much you enjoyed that.” Pepper flicked her mate on the ear then crowded close around the window as well. “I don’t think Russia enjoyed it very much though. SHIELD either. I’ve never heard anyone use the phrase ‘ _motherfucker_ ’ as many times as Colonel Fury did when I told him Stark Industries was under no obligation to share any information about our private venture.”

“SHIELD and Nick Fury can suck it.” Tony glanced up at the vital readout on the closest screen, the numbers that proved the super soldier half encased in a block of ice _was_ in fact alive-- heartbeat, oxygen output, brain activity, _alive_. “Either they or some faction deeply entrenched in their head quarters has systematically erased, buried or just outright murdered anyone and everything that happened from the riots in 1970 and further back. If I’m going to spend months of my time and millions of dollars uncovering one of those buried things, I’m certainly not going to invite them in for a look-see.” 

“Are you nervous about this?” The Alpha nuzzled a kiss onto Tony’s cheek as he tapped a few things into the computer. “This is a big deal, my mate.” 

“You think so?” Tony asked absentmindedly, increasing the temperature just a notch faster and checking for at least the thousandth time that there was plenty of water in the sealed room just in case the soon to be defrosted Captain was dehydrated, plenty of granola bars and protein supplements to begin to ease an eighty year deficit. “I found the body of a century old super soldier that has definitely undergone some morally reproachable and absolutely scientifically dubious experimentation and am now attempting to bring him out of hibernation without killing him. _Is_ that a big deal?” 

“I’m glad to see accomplishing a goal that has been the bane of the Stark man’s existence hasn’t affected your humility.” Pepper huffed, and kissed him one more time. “How are you feeling?” 

“Just fine and dandy.” Tony pulled up a new screen and started typing up a report, logging the vital charts and time laspe verses temperature rise as he went. Of course everything on every screen was instantaneously downloaded onto his servers, but since information about mutants had a bad habit of _disappearing_ , he was taking no chances. “How are _you_ , Ms. Potts?” 

“I am watching the man I love unfreeze an Alpha that may in some way very well be his soulmate.” Pepper said softly and Tony went _very_ still. “I am worried about how this will affect you. Extremely worried.” 

“Not worried about how it will affect us?” Tony went back to typing, but his fingers were shaking now. “Cos the way you just said _soulmate_ made my heart drop to somewhere a thousand feet deeper than my toes and it didn’t feel good.” 

“My Omega.” Pepper didn’t stop Tony from typing, but she did lean in and kiss at his cheek, nip a sharp bite to his ear. “Nothing will happen today that would ever change you being my _mate_. If the way you need to know about Captain Rogers means there is something fated between the two of you, the Captain will just have to learn to share.” 

“And here I thought you didn’t like to share your toys.” Tony smiled a little, and Pepper corrected, “No no darling, it’s _you_ that doesn’t like to share his toys. I have no problem sharing because I know the part of you that is mine will _always_ be mine, and that whatever this is--” 

She inclined her head towards the chamber. “-- if it’s anything at all, it is something more than just us. _If_ it’s anything at all, it’s a fated bond and fate would never take you away from me. The Captain and I will just have to learn to share, and since I have the patience of a goddess, it won’t be a problem.” 

“The patience of a goddess.” Tony’s smile grew a little more. “You’re a goddess for at least a dozen reasons, Alpha. So you’re okay?” 

“I’m fine. Are _you_ okay?” the Alpha returned, and then smirked and wiped a little bit of lipstick from Tony’s cheek. “What am I saying, you’re always okay.” 

“I’m always okay because I have you.” Tony exhaled noisily and switched to another screen. “More than us, huh?” 

“Clearly.” Pepper squeezed at his hand. “Now, are you absolutely _sure_ we aren’t going to ask Director Fury for help with this? I know the man’s an asshole, but he knew your father and would honor that legacy. You can’t just attempt to uncover and reanimate someone that is legally considered a weapon of the United States of America without some sort of protection from the powers that be.” 

“I’m a mutant billionaire with a mate that breathes fire.” Tony’s eyes flickered blue as he stretched his power inside the enclosure to listen to the miniscule vibrations of the steel table beneath Captain Rogers’ body. “ You said yourself that fate was on my side--” 

“-- No, I said the bond you feel with Captain Rogers must be fated--” 

“--and if fate’s on my side, I don’t need protection or permission from anyone.” And then with a quick glance towards his mate-- “Except for you of course. Please oh _please_ , Alpha. Can I wake a hundred year old super soldier and ask him how he’s feeling?” 

“I think it’s too late to ask for my permission.” Pepper nodded her heads towards the chamber when a silent alarm started blinking on the door. “Your project is moving right ahead whether we’re ready or not.”

Behind the windows, steam started to hiss as the last of a century's worth of ice melted away from the unnaturally still form, clouding the glass and making it hard to see exactly what was going on. Tony’s head snapped around to stare at one of the screens, fingers flying over the keyboards as he re-routed one of the vital monitors to thermal imaging video and Pepper reached to flip on the audio so they wouldn’t miss a single _breath_. 

On the video, a broad chest rose and fell with its first full breath since nineteen forty five, one and then two, then a third breath that arched the Captain’s back and had his fists clenching, knuckles cracking alongside the shards of ice that slid off his clothes and shattered on the floor. 

“Hey look at that.” Tony cocked his head curiously when eyes that should be American Flag Blue opened dark scarlet and _furious_ , when strong features that had inspired comic books and TV shows twisted into a mask of rage. “That-- that isn’t right.” 

“Tony?” Pepper reached for her mate’s hand and squeezed uncertainly. “Tony, honey, are you _sure_ this is Captain Rogers?” 

“What, you think there is more than one Stars and Spangles wearing soldier trapped beneath the northernmost ice pack somewhere above BFE Canada?” 

“No, I just mean--” Pepper flinched when the Alpha in the chamber jerked upright to sitting, the movement robotic and almost painfully abrupt. “I just mean that this Alpha looks nothing like Captain Roger’s pictures from the war. He’s the right size and shape, but Tony _that_ man--” she jabbed her fingers at the glass as Captain Rogers swung his feet over the table to the floor and cracked his neck, rolled massive shoulders to relieve the stiffness. “-- _that_ man is not the same person that went in the ice. _Look_ at him.” 

“Oh, I’m looking.” Tony didn’t dare look away when Captain Rogers stood to his full height of well over six feet and stalked through the steam, crunching ice on his way towards the observation window. The Alpha balled up a huge hand and _smashed_ into the reinforced glass, and Tony’s eyes widened when the window splintered and spiderwebbed and _cracked_. “Oh holy crap, am I looking.” 

“ _Back_ , my mate.” Pepper scaled up into her half shifted dragon form, leathery wings folding protectively over her Omega and claws bared in defense. “I am suddenly seriously doubting the integrity of this room. Get back behind me.”

“I can’t say I disagree with that.” the Omega swallowed when Captain Rogers’s furious red gaze locked onto his, when the Alpha curled his lips back and bared fangs long enough to be horrifying. “Tell me something, all those reports we read about Captain Rogers, the early ones from the very first experiments. Any word on whether or not he survived the mutant serum as _human_?” 

“You think they turned him into a monster.” Pepper’s voice was low in her mostly shifted form, growly and dangerous. “You think his body couldn’t handle the change and too long in hibernation brought the mutation out?” 

“It's simple science that mutations linked to animals run stronger than the others.” Tony backed up a step when Captain Rogers slammed at the glass again and the spiderweb of cracks splintered further. “So yeah, I think they took a tiny kid from Brooklyn, juiced him full of animal-shifter mutant serum and then took a step back and realized they had no idea what they were doing. And I _think_ \--” 

“Where is my mate?!” the mutant Alpha threw back his head and _roared_ , the speakers popped and the audio fuzzed out beneath the decibels. “My mate! Take me to my mate!” 

“-- I think we should find his mate.” Tony’s eyes snapped blue and with a wave of his hand he yanked several pieces of solid steel from the walls and flattened them over the weakening glass, turned them liquid with a twist of his wrist and then _solid_ a split second later so several inches of steel lay between them and the increasingly agitated Alpha. “Say Pep, did we know Captain Rogers had a mate?” 

“There was no mention in any of your father’s files about a mate.” Pepper muttered, and grimaced when Captain Rogers howled in heartbreak and _rage_ as he tried to beat his way through the metal pieces. “But we should figure it out soon.”

The glass completely shattered beneath a hard punch and even Tony jumped when the metal pieces he’d thrown up bent against the blow, warped and reshaped around the imprint of a _fist_ as the Captain fought against it. 

“Yeah... let’s get right on that.” The Omega swallowed hard. “Of course I don’t know what will be worse, telling Captain Rogers it’s the twenty first century or that his mate most likely died fifty years ago. Do you think letting him see through one TV’s in there would help? If he knew it was _people_ out here and not--” 

Tony made a vague gesture. “--Not Hydra or something?” 

“I don’t know if it will help, but it certainly won’t make this situation any worse.” Pepper moved to the other side of the console and remote activated a holographic screen inside the chamber, uplinked it to the camera then turned it on so the Captain could see them just like they could see him. 

“Captain Rogers?” She spoke into the mic, voice pitched low and soothing as she tried to calm the irate Alpha. “Captain Rogers, can you hear me? I want you to know you’re safe, alright? You are safe here. No one’s going to hurt you.” 

“No one’s going to hurt me?” the words were barely understandable, raking over a growl that rolled through the floor and rubbed like gravel over the busted speakers. “No on _can_ hurt me. Don’t you know who I am?” 

The Captain jerked around with a snarl and stomped towards the screen, furious and _awful_ as he stared at Pepper. “Don’t you know who I am?! Take me to my mate! Take me to my mate now or I will tear out of this place and--!” 

\--- the Alpha froze in place, stopped midstep like he’d ran into a brick wall. His shoulders dropped, fists unclenched and for the first time since waking up,the Captain’s dark scarlet eyes faded to a gorgeous shade of heart stopping _blue_. 

“Captain Rogers?” Pepper asked quietly, but the Alpha wasn’t looking at her anymore, staring at something just over her shoulder. 

_Tony_. 

Pepper stepped aside when her mate tapped at her shoulder, stepped aside and watched in unconcealed shock as Captain Rogers relaxed even further, went almost soft around the edges and made a noise that was less of a snarl and more of a croon. 

“Tony?” she whispered, but Tony wasn’t listening, his gaze locked with the Captain’s as he stood in front of the camera. 

And after an endlessly long minute where no one even dared _breathe_ \--

“I know you.” The Captain touched his chest, then flattened a big hand over his heart. “I know you. Who are you?” 

“I’m Tony Stark.” the Omega touched his own heart and nodded slowly. “And I know you too.” 

“Tony.” the Alpha rumbled and Tony’s entire body _jerked_ in response. “Omega. I want to see you. Come here and let me see you.” 

Then softer, pleading, Captain Rogers holding his hand out palm up and fingers curled coaxingly. “Come here, Omega.”

“Okay.” Tony’s eyes went electric blue and the metal over the windows melted away, the bolts and locks at the chamber door clicked open one by one. “...okay.” 

*********

**Chapter Notes:**

**WELCOME BACK TO THE MTW VERSE!**

> _I am SO excited about this chapter. Ever since I introduced the conspiracy theories in OG MTW, I knew I wanted to explore what happened to Stucky and how it ties in with Tony because lets be honest, in #NCTS verse pretty much everything ties in with Tony. The whole thing about the riots and how SHIELD stepped in and erased everything mutant related and that’s a big reason why no one in the MTW verse even knows mutants exist anymore is intense, I mean I’m not a major conspiracy theorist but uhhhh I do enjoy me some conspiracies lol_
> 
> _I love Pepper as a mutant with a dragon form, and the way Tony manipulates iron/metal so easily. I also sort of love how he is slightly submissive to her how they are still equals? Like she supports him but he checks in with her constantly, she protects him but doesn’t stand in the way of his dreams/ intentions, and of course I like how she is comfortable enough with his tech to mess with it? Idk, I just really love this dynamic._
> 
> _Next chapter we see things from Steve’s POV and it’s EXCELLENT._
> 
> _Also for anyone worried, all relationship dynamics in this fic work out, no one is left with a broken heart._


	2. Chapter 2

A good night’s sleep was a mercy Steven Grant Rogers had never known. 

As a child Steve had been sickly and weak, hacking and coughing all hours of the night and spending the day simply trying to stay warm. After his parents passed away, the young Alpha had been lonely, terrified to sleep in case someone tried to break into the apartment, reluctant to close his eyes because he didn’t want to have nightmares about saying bye to his Ma all over again.

At Camp Lehigh Steve had been the smallest of the soldiers, still trying to run courses hours after everyone had finished, limping back to his bunk only to find his blankets stolen or clothes tossed into the showers as retribution for--for what? For being picked for the program despite being weak? For not being a stereotypical meathead Alpha? He’d never managed a good nights sleep at Lehigh, no matter the exhaustion weighing him down there were always books to read and information to study and gear to retrieve from the showers and dry out for the morning. 

After Mr. Stark gave him the serum and turned Steve’s mind inside out, twisted and grew his body into someone he didn’t recognize, brought the _Alpha_ out with devastating deadly precision, Steve hadn’t _needed_ to sleep. After the serum he could go days without rest, once he’d gone an entire week running on nothing more than a cat nap. After the serum Steve didn’t need to sleep and even when he _wanted_ to sleep, it was impossible. 

Every time the Alpha closed his eyes he saw death, he saw war, he saw blood on the faces of the men he tore apart and blood on his hands after the damage was done. He saw busted knuckles and the grin on Bucky’s face when they shared a victory drink, he saw the Commandos marching through snow and the black of frostbite on wounded soldiers, he saw Arnim Zola laughing and his Omega _falling_ \--

Steve didn’t need to sleep and he didn’t _want_ to sleep, so eventually the Alpha just stopped closing his eyes. 

Eyes wide open, Steve hadn’t panicked when the horribly mutated Johann Schmidt had quite literally vaporized from the cockpit of the _Valkyrie_ , neither had he panicked when he strapped back into the pilots seat and turned the autopilot off, only for the plane to over-ride his controls and continue on its path. The Alpha hadn’t panicked when the navigation systems failed for no discernible reason, he didn’t panic when Colonel Phillips muttered, “Sorry it had to be like this, son.” just before the radios cut out, and Steve’s eyes had been wide open when the ice shelf rushed up to meet him through the windshield and the _Valkyrie_ buried herself half a mile deep into freezing, black water. 

Eyes wide open, not panicking at all, Steve’s head had snapped back with the force of the impact and for a moment-- for a fleeting, hopeful moment Steve thought maybe this was his chance to finally sleep. To finally rest. To finally close his eyes and not see nightmares. 

But the hours in the water turned into days and the Alpha couldn’t find a way out of the plane, doors that should have opened were found bolted shut and the safety gear was missing stripped from the plane. The hours turned to days and Steve knew he’d been sent on a suicide mission, that the government had decided to bury him because he was increasingly unstable. The days turned to weeks and he was hungry-- _ravenous_ \-- and dehydrated and growing weaker with every breath but not panicking, never panicking.

But when the weeks turned towards a month and ice climbed the inside of the Valkyrie, when he could hardly move for the cold and he was desperate to see even a pin-prick of light-- then the Alpha Captain Steven Grant Rogers panicked because he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t rest, and as his body slipped into hibernation, his consciousness stayed hovering just awake enough to remind him he was trapped, just dozing enough to make him dream of his mate. 

_His mate._

Steve just wanted to sleep, but sleep was a mercy life had never once seen fit to give him. 

_Where is my mate?_

The millisecond the temperature in the room notched above thirty-five point six degrees Fahrenheit, the Alpha snapped from hibernation to full waking, his lungs automatically expanding to drag in the first true breath in who knew how long, fingers twitching as he tried to form a fist, muscles tensing _aching_ with the need to break out of the ice still weighing him down. 

Without opening his eyes Steve knew he was under observation, he could hear the beep of machines somewhere close by and recognized the steady sound of his own heartbeat as it picked up and the machines ticked faster to keep track. Beyond a wall somewhere there was the murmur of voices, one female, one male but the male voice had the easier cadence of an Omega while the woman was clearly an Alpha, Steve could almost feel the vibration of her _growl_ through the floor. 

He was being watched from one direction, two directions, three and four if he counted what was most likely a window off to his left. The air felt different there, the sound didn’t bounce off the walls like it did in the other three directions, so he was being watched by at least one, two, three cameras and also observed through a window. 

The temperature climbed another notch and the next breath brought _rage_ flooding the Alpha’s core. How long had he been under the ice before the US government decided to bring him back up? How long had they left him to die in the Valkyrie just like they’d left Bucky to die in the ravine after the train? 

... _Bucky_. 

Eight soldiers had tried to hold Steve back from jumping off the train right alongside his mate that last awful day, and it had taken eight more to keep him from tearing the Colonel’s throat out when Phillips patted him on the shoulder and murmured, “Nothing to be done, son. We’ve got a war to fight. Got to move on.”

‘ _Nothing to be done_ ’ and ‘ _sorry it had to be this way_ ’ and then they’d left Steve to die just like they’d left his mate to die. 

Nothing to be done, except Steve was _awake_ now. He didn’t sleep, he never slept, and now he was fully awake and nothing was going to stop him from searching for his mate even if he had to burn the world down to do it. 

That first full breath was agony, lungs opening and chest straining as if thousands of tons of ice were still crushing him from above. The Alpha clenched his fists and heard his joints pop, pried his eyes open and saw the world hazed _red_ , snapped upright in a move that felt like it tore his muscles apart so he could look and see where he was being held captive. 

It was a room, observation room but not one in an Army base. Civilian, this was a civilian place armored up to be nearly unbreakable. Steve could see the reinforced joists, the multiple panes to the window, the nearly invisible seams between wall and floor that meant a chemical could be released inside the room and never affect the ones watching. The door was not a point of weakness, bolted from inside and out, no hinges, it most likely slid shut then engaged via locks buried in the body of door itself rendering the portal un-breachable with anything less than a _tank_. 

No matter. Steve Rogers had tangled with a few tanks in his day and always came out the other side. He wasn’t worried about a door. 

Swinging his feet over the stainless steel table brought the Alpha’s heels into contact with solid concrete that felt _warm_ under his toes. Warmth meant ambient heat tracked through the flooring, ambient heat through hollow pipes which could double as a base for explosives which meant Steve was literally one wrong step away from being blown to bits. 

With that in mind, the Alpha took another second to breathe and assess the situation. He rolled his shoulders and felt the temperature rise again, slowly but steadily and clearly designed to bring him back to full awareness and ease him back into a smooth equilibrium. Whoever was responsible for bringing him from the ice had done their research and was trying to make this as gentle a transition as possible, but Steve didn’t need gentle. 

He didn’t need gentle and he didn’t need to be eased into anything-- not waking, not equilibrium, not _anything_. Before the serum Steve had been a hell of a tactician, after the serum he was a hell of a soldier and after the _ice_ , the Alpha was just plain furious.

Nothing _gentle_ about it. 

It was seven, eight, nine steps to the window and Steve balled up his fist and struck out with about half his strength just to _try_ , just to test the glass, just to see if someone came rushing in to stop him. The glass splintered almost immediately which told the Alpha the people on the other side had no clue just how strong he was and _that_ knowledge made his vision slide darker red, made his lips curl and fangs ache with the need to tear someone’s throat out. 

“Where is my mate?!” The window splintered under another punch and Steve threw his head back and _roared_ in anger and frustration and heartbreak. “My mate! Take me to my mate!” 

Steel slammed into the glass almost as fast as Steve could blink, liquid one second and solid the next, voices pitched high on the other side as his watchers scrambled to adjust for all the things they hadn’t been prepared for. 

No one was _ever_ prepared for Steve Rogers. 

Another punch and what was left of the window shattered to dust. The Alpha snarled in grim satisfaction when his knuckles broke against the steel barrier, broke and popped then reknit themselves together in time for another punch that bent and warped the steel around the shape of his fist. 

Oh it felt good to _rage_.

Another hit would have propelled Steve right through the steel pieces and out into whatever was beyond the room, but a nearly inaudible sound stopped him mid motion, a hesitation that allowed a holographic screen to light on the far wall and after another quiet click, a soothing but still definitely Alpha voice spoke up--

“Captain Rogers?” 

Steve turned his head only enough to see the screen from his peripherals, not willing to give up the chance to break right out of here, but willing to listen for a half second so he could see who was speaking. The Alpha was beautiful, tall woman with bright red hair, golden tinted eyes and a set of _wings_ over her shoulders. Dragon shifter-- she was a dragon shifter and those were powerful mutants, the sort of mutants that usually kept their wings and fangs under wraps to avoid detection and capture and the sort of experimentation that had led to the creation of Johann Schmidt and _Captain America_. 

Idly, Steve wondered if this Alpha were related to Agent Carter. Most animal leaning mutations ran through genetics and dragons were limited to only a few families worldwide so there had to be a connection. 

There had to be a connection and Steve knew that, just like he knew the Alpha’s clothes didn’t make any sense for being the 1940s. The technology in the room made sense-- Hydra had used weapons that were practically magic so a holographic screen wasn’t enough to blink at. But the Alpha’s clothes were _wrong_ , being half shifted in public was _wrong_ , a female Alpha being in charge of the sort of operation it would take to pull him from the ice was _wrong_. Operations like this meant Generals and joint cooperative attempts from different governments, which meant the war must be over if they thought it was okay to bring him up again, the war must be over and it must be _years_ later if women were dressing like that and female Alphas were in a position like this and--

“Captain Rogers, no one’s going to hurt you.” 

“No one’s going to hurt me?” The words were lost under a growl, a snarl, a _threat_ as the Alpha’s reconnaissance and lightning fast data gathering burned to a stop beneath a fresh wave of anger. “No one _can_ hurt me.” 

Steve whirled around and stomped towards the holographic screen, fists clenched and eyes blazing, shoulders set as he readied himself to simply break through _this_ damn wall. “Don’t you know who I am?” 

The woman on the screen opened wide eyes when he advanced, and Steve channeled every bit of his mate sick _heart_ sick anger into another roar, “Don’t you know who I am?! Take me to my mate now or I will tear out of this place and--” 

\--and--

\--and it was like hitting a brick wall, it was like running into the side of a tank, it was like the impact of the _Valkyrie_ into the ice all over again and suddenly Steve couldn’t move. 

He couldn’t _move_. 

There was an Omega just behind the dragon mutant, soft curls and fancy cut facial hair, porcelain skin and a red mouth parted in quiet awe, big brown eyes that ringed _golden_ as he stared into the monitor where Steve was staring right back. 

_Omega_. 

**Omega**. 

“I know you.” It was like hitting a brick wall and Steve’s vision cleared immediately, eyes fading back to blue and shoulders relaxing loose as every _hurt_ instinct turned to _hold_ instinct and thrummed warm through his veins. 

“I know you.” Steve didn’t know how he knew the Omega, but his growl lessened to a croon as he touched his heart just briefly, then flattened his palm over his chest and pressed _hard_ when it seized up. He couldn’t breathe and it felt like an asthma attack, like the Omega had reached through the wall and physically stopped him breathing. “Who are you?”

“I’m Tony Stark.” The Omega reached and touched his own heart and the pressure in Steve’s chest ratcheted even tighter at the mirrored motion. “And I know you too.” 

_Tony_. 

“Tony.” A rumble that came from low in the Alpha’s throat, grew louder when Tony visibly jerked in response. “ _Omega_ , I want to see you, come here and let me see you.” 

And then slowly, almost uncertainly because the only person Steve had ever given his hand to was _Bucky_ and he didn’t know how to do it with anyone else-- slowly Steve offered his palm up and fingers curled in as coaxing a motion as he could manage. “Come here, Omega.”

Those beautiful nearly gold eyes went electric blue and behind him, Steve heard the sound of the massive door unlocking, bolts sliding and metal peeling away in pieces. 

“...Okay.”

********

The dragon shifter was growling uncomfortably as Tony stepped into the room, but Steve scented nothing but _confidence_ on the pretty Omega, nothing but curiosity and interest and _confidence_ in the sugar sweet vanilla scent. 

He was gorgeous up close, breathtaking in fact, but then again Steve had always had a soft spot for brunettes with beautiful hair and slightly crooked smiles. He’d always had a soft spot for Omegas with too much swagger and an ever present cocky smirk and this Omega-- this _Tony_ \-- flicked the door closed behind him and struck an all too casual pose with hands in pockets and nose tilted up, looking for all the world as if he had a thousand other things to be doing instead of standing here twisting Steve into a rush of _feral_ and _claim_ and _mine mine mine._

“Omega.” They were closed in together now, just he and the Omega in the room with what was left of the melting ice and the shattered glass and for a long minute Steve could only stare, his mind and heart warring with the knowledge that Tony was _mate_ just like Bucky was _mate_ and that didn’t make any sense but at the same time made all the sense in the world. 

_Mate mate mate mineminemine---_

The Alpha had to work hard to quiet his instinctive growl, had to force his shoulders to relax again and mold his posture pliant so Tony wouldn’t pull away. The Omega didn’t scent scared and Steve didn’t understand why, Tony should be scared of him, _everyone_ should be scared of him, but the Omega didn’t scent scared and Steve didn’t want that to change anytime soon.

“Omega.” he said again, softly and cautiously, one step forward and then two with his hand outstretched and fangs covered so he wouldn’t frighten the pretty thing. “Omega, can I scent you? Will you let me scent you?” 

“You can call me Tony.” the Omega’s lips twisted into a half amused smile. “All that _Omega_ stuff is a little Old World for me, little too much for first meetings, yeah? Especially the way you growl it out like that. Why don’t you just call me Tony.” 

“Tony.” Rumbly and growly and _mineminemine_ and Steve didn’t bother banking his pleased response when Tony visibly reacted to it all over again. “C’mere and let me scent you.” 

Tony sent a quick look towards the dragon shifter on the monitor, then straightened his shoulders and nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine. We can do that.” 

The Omega offered up his wrist-- close but not too close, intimate but not half as intimate as offering his throat-- and Steve moved forward to scent him, cradled slim calloused fingers in his own huge palm and open mouth inhaled over satiny smooth skin, breathed in honeyed vanilla and sweet cloves and the barest edge of sharp cinnamon that made the Alpha’s head spin and his knees weak. 

_Omega_.

“ **Mine**.” Self control snapped and it took no strength at all to snatch the Omega up into his body, to yank Tony in and _in_ until Steve could bury his nose in the curve of his mate’s neck, scrape his fangs over the pulse that pounded desperation against his tongue and taste heady arousal clouding up the Omega’s pure essence. 

“ **Mine** \--!” There was nothing more than a split second between Steve snarling out something guttural and possessive and Tony peeling a strip of metal from the walls and snapping it around the Alpha’s wrist like a handcuff before melting it to the table next to them, forcing Steve off him and back several steps.

“--what?” Steve blinked down at his shackled wrist then down into electric blue eyes as Tony’s powers sparked. “--what are you doing?”

“You can’t do that.” Tony’s voice shook the tiniest bit, the only indication the Omega gave of being affected by the moment, of being affected by Steve. “You can’t bite me. I have a mate. You can scent me, but you can’t bite me. Back off.” 

“You have a mate?” Steve flexed his arm and the metal piece snapped in half, scattered loud across the floor. “ _I’m_ meant to be your mate. Omega--” 

“It’s just Tony.” Tony interrupted again, and there was no anger in his words, just calmness and confidence and the barest hint of _pleading_. “You should just call me Tony. Because my mate is the only one that calls me Omega. Back off.” 

“Tony.” Steve might have been an Alpha barely coherent, but he had _never_ been the sort of Alpha to not listen when an Omega was saying _no_. It just about killed him to back up several feet and plant himself against the far wall but he did it anyway, forced out of the drugging haze of mate scent by Tony telling him _no_. Telling him _can’t_. Telling him to _back off._

“M’sorry.” Steve might have backed off but that didn’t stop him from _staring_ , tonguing over his fangs and cataloging every inch of the Omega-- of _Tony_ \-- that he could see. Long legs and lean muscles. Eyes that were brown and then honey gold and then the brightest blue. A smile that made the Alpha want to howl and a scent that made him half mad. Gorgeous, Tony was _gorgeous_ and he scented like mate but Tony had said _no_ so Steve was going to stay over here. 

“It’s okay.” Tony put a hand to his heart in a quiet thank you, in a quiet acknowledgement that he was just as carried away as the Alpha even if he wasn’t showing it. “Being fresh from the freezer can bring out the growly in all of us. No harm, no foul.” 

“Fresh from the freezer.” the Alpha tried, visibly _tried_ to focus on the conversation and not on Tony, and his brow wrinkled in confusion. “What does that mean? You mean the ice? I’m fresh from the ice?” 

“Yeah, I mean the ice.” Tony had to swallow the instinct to click his tongue and croon comfortingly when Steve’s wild scent dipped _confused_. The Alpha was barely stable but was keeping himself controlled enough to give Tony space and the show of respect and promise of safety had Tony struggling not to tip his head and purr so sweet at the Alpha that scented _mate_ to him as well. 

“Yeah, the ice.” He repeated after a minute of watching the _stretch_ of Steve’s shoulders as the massive blond huffed an unsteady breath. “I need to run through some information with you to make sure you’re all the way back with me, okay? You feel up to answering some questions?” 

The shelf beneath Steve’s fingers crumpled in frustration, but he nodded so Tony wet his lips and asked, “Can you tell me your name? Your birthday? Any sort of identifying information?” 

“My name is Steven Grant Rogers.” the Alpha answered promptly. “Code name Captain America, running with the Howling Commandos. Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes is my second, formerly of the 107th, same division our Pa’s fought in. Birthday is July 4th, 1918. I was twenty seven when the Valkyrie crashed, depending on what month it is, I might be twenty eight now.” 

And then with a quick look around the room, “But judging by our surroundings, I’d wager I was gone ten to fifteen years, so maybe I’m closer to forty five these days.”

“Judging by our surroundings?” 

“Omegas don’t dress like that when I’m from.” The Alpha jerked his head towards Tony well fitted clothes, the flashy design on his shirt and intricate cut facial hair. “And there wouldn’t be a female dragon mutant running an operation if this was still the forties. Hell, they didn’t let Peggy run half of nothin’ and she was smarter and fiercer than half the men in the room.” 

“She certainly was.” Tony’s mouth tipped up at the corner when Steve’s stilted speech slid softer, smoother and tinged with a little bit of that Brooklyn accent he remembered from the old footage. “Captain Rogers--” 

“Want you to call me Alpha.” Steve couldn’t resist rumbling, and the Omega’s throat jerked as he swallowed hard. “Call me _Alpha_.” 

“It’s better for everyone if I call you Captain Rogers.” Tony decided quietly, firmly. “Do you understand?” 

Steve’s blue eyes flickered scarlet and Tony’s dark gaze ringed gold in immediate response, but the Omega still insisted, “Do you understand?” 

“I understand.” The Alpha folded his arms and didn’t bother hiding his smile when Tony’s eyes dropped to watch the flex of muscle. “What year is it, Tony Stark?” 

“It’s the year 2021.” Tony answered evenly. “Captain Rogers, you’ve been under the ice for almost eighty years now.” 

“Eighty...years?” For the first time since waking up, Steve’s brain skittered to a stop, unable to comprehend _that_ particular piece of information. “I’ve been gone for eighty years?” 

“I’m very sorry.” Tony whispered, but the words fell on deaf ears as the huge Alpha slumped forward, Steve burying his hands in his hair and cursing out loud. 

Eighty years. It wasn’t possible, it wasn’t _possible_ that Steve could have been lost for all that time. Not possible because it meant the war was over and his men were all dead. The mission had ended without him and no one had gone to take Bucky’s things home to his Ma. His mate-- his _mate_ had been lost to the ice and cold and no one had finished searching for him. What had happened to Peggy? What had happened to Hydra and Colonel Phillips? How had the world forgotten about him for _eighty years_ , he’d been a hero, been the All American Golden Boy, they had written stories about Steve and then-- then they’d left him to the ice for most of a century? 

It wasn’t possible. 

_It wasn’t possible._

“Captain Rogers, I’m so sorry.” Tony bit at his lip till it bled, pushed at his heart when he thought it might break right in half with shared sorrow as Steve’s scent shattered _devastated_. “But I want you to know my mate and I will do everything--” 

He flinched when Steve balled up his fist and struck backwards at the wall, denting through the steel. 

“--my mate and I will do everything in our power to help you to adjust, alright?” The Omega’s knees buckled when Steve snarled heartbroken and _confused_. “The world is a lot different now, but we’ll figure it out. Finding you in the ice and waking you up was step one and I promise I’ll be here to help with everything else. My dad looked for you for a long time, but I found you. _We_ found you. Things are going to get better soon and I’ll make sure--

“I need to find my mate.” Steve interrupted, low and almost savage. “I have to find my mate. Did they lose him for eighty years too? Did they forget about him too?” 

Tony didn’t know how to tell the Alpha there was no record of Captain America having a mate anywhere, so he stayed quiet instead, watched as Steve physically _tried_ for control and stability, the Alpha’s blue eyes shifting darker red by the second as the reality of _eighty years_ sank in. 

“I need to find my mate.” Steve said again, but this time he cocked his head and held his hand out for Tony, pleading practically begging for the Omega to offer him some comfort. “But you smell good too, pretty Omega, sweet Omega. I want you as mine.” 

“N-no you don’t.” Tony's voice was very faint, and the Alpha knew he was _tempted_. “You want your mate and I swear I’m going to help you find him. Or find any information about him. I’ll help you. Promise.” 

“Want you.” The Alpha growled, anxious and hungry as everything about the room and and the ice and the future and his past and all the unknowns piled up on each other and threatened to stop his heart. _Please please please Omega._ “I know you, Tony Stark. Know you right here.” A touch at his chest. “Only thing I know after eighty years in the ice. I know _you_.” 

“I know you too.” Tony’s vanilla scent dimmed in sadness. “I know you too, and I don’t know what that means. But we’ll figure it out, alright? We will. You’ve been gone a long time Captain, but you’re home now. Things are going to get better really quickly, and we’ll figure this out.” 

“Stay with me.” Steve looked up towards the closed door, then over at the monitor where the dragon shifter was watching closely. “Tony, stay with me.” 

“No.” the Omega whispered, even shifted back a step to get closer to the dragon, the one he called _mate_. “No, I won’t.” 

“Stay!” The Captain wasn’t an Alpha to ever ignore an Omega saying no, but fresh out of the ice and struggling to come to terms with eighty years, missing his mate but knowing the pretty mutant in front of him was _mate_ too was too much. It was too much and Steve had never once pushed anyone who said _no_ , but this time he lurched forward and grabbed for Tony with both hands. 

“Stay!” He was desperate and he was frightened, he was angry and he was confused, Steve was terrified and he was lonely and Tony scented like _home_ and _mate_ and _forever_ and the Alpha needed to be with him now, he needed to be with him _now_ , he needed to grab the Omega up and clutch him tight and mark up that pretty neck with his fangs so there would be one thing in the world no one could take away, one thing after eighty years that made sense, one thing Steve could call _his_ \---

“Stay.” 

“I said _no_.” 

“ **Stay** \---!”

A steel pipe wrapped like a collar around the Alpha’s neck and yanked Steve to a stop, knocked the wind right out of him and dragged him back a step. Before the Alpha could get a hand up to tear the steel away, another piece bonded to it like a leash and when Tony sliced his hands towards the ground, the entire thing snapped to the floor, melted into the concrete and forced Steve right to his knees, collared and chained and _still_.

The Alpha was shaking, one hand at the collar and the other on the ground to keep his balance, breathing hard and growling with the effort of forcing himself calm, torn between wanting to _rage_ at being collared and being awed by his mates powers. 

“Beautiful.” he gasped out, the collar making his voice hoarse. “Omega, you are beautiful. _Powerful_.” 

“I’m both those things and a whole lot more.” There was the cockiness that had made Steve smile at first, but Tony’s words were only soft, his touch as he knelt in front of the chained Alpha almost reverent as he brushed along Steve’s cheek and then across the line of his jaw. 

“Steve.” he whispered and the Captain’s breath caught, stuttered in his chest. “Such a sad Alpha, I’m so sorry.” 

Steve slumped into the touch and turned to nose into the Omega’s palm, desperate for something real after the trauma of the day, the ice, the last century. 

“Such a sad Alpha.” Tony whispered again, inching closer when all the anger washed from Steve’s frame and left the Alpha trembling against him. “I’m sorry Captain, Steve, I’m sorry. I know this isn’t how you wanted to wake up, or thought you’d wake up but it will get better,. Promise.” 

“M’sorry.” Steve hung his head and Tony caught him, his shoulders fell and the Omega wrapped an arm around his frame and hugged him in tight. “S-sorry Tony.” he was trembling now, shivering, teeth chattering as cold truth sank deep into his bones and left him raw. “I need you, dunno why I need you, dunno why I know you-- I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry.” Tony leaned in and pressed their foreheads together, purred soft and sweet and reassuring and didn’t pull away when the Alpha gripped tentatively at his waist. “It’s alright. I know you too and we-- we’re going to figure this out. I promise. _Promise_.” 

*************

It was almost frightening how quickly the Alpha Captain came back to himself. 

There were a few tears hidden in Tony’s shoulder as the full sorrow of eighty years crashed into Steve’s psyche and he couldn’t hold it in anymore. There were fingerprint bruises left at the Omega’s waist where Steve held him and Tony hadn’t had the heart to pull away. They knew each other, even with Steve hiding his face and Tony ready to bolt the Alpha to the floor if he tried to bite again, they knew each other and Tony kept purring, kept whispering soft reassurance, stayed kneeling on the concrete floor long after his legs went numb so Steve wouldn’t be alone. 

And after that, it was almost _frightening_ how quickly Steve came back to himself. 

“He’s quiet.” Pepper’s wings were hidden again, her scales molded back into her skin now that her mate was back at her side but her eyes were still golden, clocking every twitch from the other Alpha as Steve cleaned up and ate some food. “Very quiet.” 

“Dad said they tested Steve’s mental acuity for hours that first day after he got the serum.” Tony tore the top off an energy drink and pounded it in a few swallows, wiped his mouth then pulled Pepper down for a kiss that was more apologetic than sweet. “They used to show him six hours worth of film on fast forward, then test him on what he’d seen and he could word for word describe every scene. He processes information at least ten times faster than most people, so if the Captain is being quiet it means he’s thinking.” 

“Why are you apologizing?” Pepper ran her thumb over Tony’s bottom lip and brought him back for another, more soothing kiss. “What was that, my mate?” 

“I’m sorry.” Tony’s eyes shifted gold for his Alpha, then blinked back dark. “I’m sorry, Pep. You had to stand here and watch me get golden eyed for another Alpha, had to watch Steve jump at me, had to watch me hold him. I’m sorry.” 

“If you had anything to apologize for, I never would have let you walk into that room.” the Alpha corrected quietly. “You said you know him, and anyone can tell the feeling is mutual. Our Captain is struggling with missing his original mate and realizing he’s eighty years past anything he knows. It makes perfect sense for him to latch on to something that is even slightly familiar or scents even a little like mate.” 

One slim shoulder lifted in a shrug. “I didn’t love when he jumped at you, but I sort of loved how you fashioned a collar and leash and nailed him to the ground.” 

“Kinky.” Tony’s smile was a little wobbly. “You’re just mad I’ve never collared you, huh?” 

“Have you ever tried collaring a dragon?” Pepper arched one of those perfectly shaped brows. “Surest way to get your adorable ass roasted, my love.” 

“My love.” The Omega finally relaxed, finally pulled his mate in for a real kiss. “ _Thank you_.” 

“Thank _you_.” Pepper returned, lingering over the kiss until Tony arched his back and stood on his toes for another. “I have no issue with you and the Captain fated to _know_ each other, but that doesn’t mean it will always be easy for me to watch. Just be careful, darling.” 

“Right.” Tony pressed lightly at his chest, just over where his heart was practically screaming to get back to Steve. “Careful.” 

Inside the room, Steve finished eating, finished some light grooming and smiled to himself when he headed for the door and it opened automatically to let him out. 

“Captain Rogers.” Up close Pepper was honestly stunning, the sort of beautiful that left other Alphas tongue tied and Omegas panting after her, the sort of mutant that could stop a conversation with nothing more than a pointed glance. Even in an ankle length dress with hair down to her waist, the redhead was undoubtedly fierce, undoubtedly Alpha and undoubtedly all of two seconds from burning Steve to a crisp if it came down to defending her Omega. 

“Ma’am.” Steve put a hand to his heart as a sign of immediate respect, and the dragon Alpha returned the gesture with a small smile. “Thank you for giving me some time to come back to myself.” 

“Some time?” Pepper smiled a tiny bit. “Captain Rogers, it’s been all of seventeen minutes between my mate leaving you in that room and you stepping out the door fully coherent and apparently ready to face the twenty first century. I’ve taken longer to choose nail polish.” 

“She’s not kidding, the decision between fire engine red or fire breathing red cost us forty five minutes last week.” Tony came back into the room and both Alpha’s eyes snapped round to see him. “We were late for the Annual Benefit Gala.” 

“We were late because you have never been on time for anything in your life.” Pepper corrected lightly, and pushed a chair out for her mate. “My forty five minutes had nothing to do with it.” 

“Touche.” Tony sat and Steve sat just as abruptly, the Alpha calmer after some time to settle but still almost frantically in tune to everything Tony did. “Captain Rogers. How are you feeling?” 

“...better.” Steve’s eyes were blue again, but he didn’t so much as blink as he stared at the Omega, unwilling to miss even a little bit of _everything_ Tony was. “What year is it?” 

“2021.” 

“What happened to the war?” 

“They say we won.” Tony answered and the way his smile pulled down at the corners made Steve’s stomach drop. “But the war you’re talking about is several wars past, you have some catching up to do.” 

“Catch me up then.” Steve clasped his hands loosely between his knees and swallowed hard, readying himself to hear eighty years of bloodshed and history. “Start with me going in the ice and catch me up.” 

The questions came rapid fire after that, the Captain asking them almost faster than Tony or Pepper could answer, absorbing the information and drawing his own conclusions about what had come next-- the fallout of World War II, whatever happened to the Commandos, the beginning of SHIELD, the Cold War, the arms race, the riots and attempted wipe out of mutants, whatever the hell eighties music was, the wars in the Middle East, Howard and Maria Stark’s passing, 9/11 and the resulting war that was more a flex of brute strength and greed and less of a war at all--

\--and after all that, after hours of information and hours of questions, Steve ran his hands through his hair and asked one final question. 

“Did anyone ever find my mate?” he looked up at Tony and then away from the Omega, away and then right back to him because mate suddenly meant more than Bucky. “Did anyone ever find him?” 

“Captain Rogers.” Pepper fielded this question, murmured something low to her Omega and answered, “There is no record of you ever having a listed mate. Of course, it’s not uncommon for mutants to not list register a mate bond, especially with a non mutant so perhaps if you give us a name?” 

“James Buchanan Barnes.” the Captain supplied woodenly. “Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky. My mate.” 

“Bucky Barnes.” Tony whispered. “The one who fell from the train right before the Commandos captured Zola.” 

“Yes.” The Alpha growled at the memory. “Bucky. Did anyone ever find him?” 

“I’m very sorry, Captain Rogers.” Pepper began gently. “But there is no record of--” 

“Pep.” Tony stopped her with a gentle hand at her thigh. “The SHIELD files, the one that talk about the mutant experiment on the boy from Steve’s neighborhood.” 

“You think--” Pepper’s eyebrows shot towards her hairline. “Really?” 

“It’s worth a glance or two.” The Omega pressed at her hand once, twice then got up from his seat and moved to sit by Steve, hesitated only a split second when the Alpha automatically wound an arm around his waist and pulled him in close. 

“Captain.” Tony’s breath audibly caught when Steve turned his nose into his throat and inhaled. “Captain, how does your mate bond feel with Bucky?” 

“Its right here.” Steve tapped his chest and then at his pulse. “I would know if Bucky was dead, and he’s _not_. I can feel him.” 

“Okay.” the Omega whimpered only softly when the Captain’s grip tightened at his waist. “Okay then, I’ll start looking. I’ll find. I’ll find your Bucky.” 

“Thank you.” It was damn near impossible to quell the urge to grab when Tony moved away, but Steve forced himself to sit back and let the Omega go. “Tony-- can I-- can I stay?” 

“Of course you can stay.” the Omega didn’t skip a beat answering, even swept his fingers into Steve’s hair and tugged lightly. “We woke you up and brought you home, Captain. You can stay.” 

“...can I stay with you?” Steve’s gaze flickered red and Tony’s melted gold in response. “Please?” 

“No.” Tony felt behind him for Pepper and squeezed at her hand. “No, you can’t stay with me but you can stay close. We’ll stay close, _Steve_. I promise.” 

“Alright.” Steve watched every step the Omega made out of the room and up into the still-unseen rest of the house, then turned to the dragon mutant and sighed. “Ms. Potts. I’m-- I’m sorry.” 

“Mmm.” Pepper tilted her head and tapped at her bototm lip. “And what do you have to be sorry for, Captain Rogers?” 

“For what I feel for your mate.” the Alpha whispered. “I’m sorry.” 

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Pepper shook her head. “I told my mate before we found you that if fate means for the two of you to be together, then I wouldn’t fight it. Fate would never take _my mate_ away--” she tapped at the chair arm for emphasis. “-- but if there’s one thing we dragons know, it’s that time bends and changes and stretches past forever to bring fated hearts together. Whatever you and Tony have is clearly more than just _us_ , and I’m not worried about it.” 

“That being said?” Now Pepper leaned forward, her skin flickering with scales that traveled up to become horns in her hair, into her mouth to become hooked fangs, up into her eyes to twist them molten gold and dangerous. “That being said, if you ever lay a finger on my mate without his consent, if you ever--” 

\--she raised her voice when Steve immediately shook his head, “-- if you ever so much as _look_ at him after he’s told you no or after he’d decided he needs some space, if you even _breathe_ in that Omega’s direction when Tony doesn’t want you to, I will rip you to pieces, do you understand?” 

“Ms. Potts--” 

“Captain Rogers?” Nails turned to claws and left score marks in the upholstered chair. “You might be an All American Hero, astonishingly powerful and well equipped to bring half the world to it’s knees but I am a _dragon_ and that is my _mate_ and if you upset him in the least, there is not a place on this planet, not an ice shelf thick enough or ocean deep enough to keep me from turning you to ash and putting you out with tomorrow’s garbage. Am I perfectly clear?” 

“...yes ma’am.” 

“Alright then.” Pepper stood to her feet and all signs of the dragon disappeared, leaving her green eyed and brightly smiling. “Welcome to the twenty first century, Captain Rogers. We’re so happy to have you home again.” 

“Home.” Steve didn’t know whether to growl or laugh over the show of dominance, didn’t know whether to growl or sob over the word _home_. “...thanks.” 

**********

**Chapter Notes:**

> _I LOVE this version of Steve. He’s sort of freaky with the way he notices everything and I love the whole “no one is ever prepared for me” thing and how he’s fully aware of just how frightening he is? I know it’s not news to any of my readers, but boy howdy do I love a growly dangerous Alpha!Steve._
> 
> _And the way he fights so hard to stay under control around Tony but can’t help himself? BOY HOWDY._
> 
> _Also, let’s throw a third boy howdy in there for Ms. Potts. Casting her as a dragon mutant in MTW was more of a “lol isn’t this funny?” but now it’s probably my favorite version of Pepper anywhere._
> 
> _And finally, sorry for the delay in posting. If you don’t follow me on Tumblr-- I ended up having a surgery moved up from the end of March to this past Monday, as in 2/1/21 and I wasn’t prepared at all so I was scrambling with work and stuff and of course, writing got pushed back a little back. I’ve got another week of recovery before I’m back to normal-ish life, so hopefully I can update quickly while I’m off work and stuck on the couch!_
> 
> _Cheers!_


	3. Chapter 3

If it had been nearly frightening the way Captain Rogers went from confused to _aware_ about his current situation, it was downright heartbreaking the way the Alpha transitioned from aware to desperately _lost_. 

Steven Grant Rogers was _lost_. He was a man out of time, quite literally a relic from a past age, over a hundred years old and still barely thirty. He was a poor kid from Brooklyn and a weapon of mass destruction wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, he was a bonded Alpha tumbling through twin cycles of grief and _heartache_ while dealing with the presence of a new Omega that scented like forever. He was a soldier without a war and an entire personal war ready to unleash on those who had trapped him in the ice, he was starving but too mate sick to eat, he was tired but couldn’t manage to close his eyes. 

Captain Rogers was searching for home, adrift in a world he couldn’t hardly begin to understand, lost even with every step he took forward and it was _heartbreaking_ to watch. 

“How long has he been like this?” Pepper brought coffee from the kitchen and pressed it into her Omega’s hands, then inclined her head towards the surveillance screen on the wall “By the way, you watching every move the illustrious Captain America makes isn’t creepy at _all_.” 

The Alpha was teasing, trying to lighten the tension that grew tighter with every day Captain Rogers lived in their home, but Tony didn’t laugh. 

“I can’t not watch him.” He muttered, took a drink of the coffee and sighed in immediate relief, then repeated, “I can’t _not_ watch him, Pep.” 

“And how long have you not been able to not watch him?” The dragon mutant perched on the side of Tony’s chair and scratched idly at his scalp. “How long has Captain Rogers been staring at a blank computer screen? The man’s been out of the ice for forty eight hours, Tony, he still hasn’t figured out the microwave or come to terms with dimmer switches on the lights I feel like _computers_ could be a next week project, don’t you?” 

“The Captain isn’t looking at a blank computer screen.” Tony tapped a few buttons on his phone and the camera set up in Steve’s suite of rooms zoomed in on the soldier. “You see that right there, the fuzz on the screen?” 

“It looks like static?” Pepper peered closer at the picture. “Maybe grid interference between the camera and the computer, though I’d assume your gear is high quality enough to avoid such plebian issues.” 

“Grid interference as a plebian issue is going to the title of my next article.” the Omega finally smiled a little bit. “So thanks for that. And you’re right, this camera is too high tech to be stymied by grid interference.” 

“So if it’s not static or grid interference, why can’t we see what he’s looking at?” 

“Because.” Tony began flatly. “Captain Rogers is scrolling so fast through pages of online information, my camera physically can’t move fast enough to capture the screen shots.”

“He’s _reading_?!” 

“He’s _reading_.” the Omega confirmed, with just a note of incredulity in his voice. “I showed him how to find the internet, showed him what a search bar was and for the past--” a quick glance at his watch. “--eight hours and seventeen minutes, Steve’s been _reading_ , taking in all that information just as fast as he can process it which turns out to be really freaky fast.” 

“Huh.” Pepper didn’t ask whether or not Tony had been watching for the entire eight hours and seventeen minutes, but she _did_ zoom the camera in a little tighter and wonder, “What’s he reading about, exactly?” 

“World history.” Tony took another long drink and rubbed at his eyes. “He started with ‘what happened to Captain America’ and about an hour ago he turned to the camera and asked where I was on 9/11 and then went back to reading.” 

“9/11? He made it all the way up to the 2000s?” 

“He’s averaging a decade an hour right now.” a short nod. “And I don’t mean American history. He’s studying _world_ history. He asked about 9/11 while reading about Russia because there was a footnote about how that particular act of terrorism change the Russo-American relationship.” 

“He could read for days and still not know everything he missed.” Pepper’s scent dipped in sympathy. “Do you think he’s looking for anything in particular?” 

“Answers.” Tony said simply. “He’s looking for answers. He’s definitely not all the way put together mentally, absolutely emotionally unstable and New York has changed enough that Steve is literally, physically lost. He’s reading to find answers, hoping history will give him clues to what’s coming tomorrow.” 

The Omega was quiet then, staring at the screen while pressing at his heart and Pepper had to quiet a gasp when no more than a minute later Captain Rogers turned and looked right into the camera, right into the living room and right into Tony’s eyes. 

The way they knew each other was _eerie_. 

A whole minute passed before Steve went back to reading, typing in a new search and devouring the information in an almost certainly futile attempt to find some sort of satisfactory answer to his thousands of questions. 

“He’s so lost.” Tony zoomed the camera out and went back to his coffee, wrapping suddenly trembling fingers around the mug and sighing out loud. “It makes me sad.” 

“Makes me sad too, darling.” Pepper agreed quietly. “But it’s only been a few days. As you say, The Captain is fresh from the freezer. Give him time to de-thaw. Give _yourself_ time to reconcile what your heart and mind are saying.”

“What do _you_ think my heart and mind are saying?” Tony tipped his head back and purred quietly when Pepper wound her arms around his shoulders and gathered him in tight. “Since you know me inside and out, what do _you_ think my heart and mind are saying?” 

“I think your heart is saying you feel a little lost right now too, Omega.” Pepper whispered, soft and golden eyes as she dug comfortingly _possessive_ claws at her mate’s waist. “And your mind is saying that finding answers for Captain Rogers will settle _both_ of you. So what are you waiting for?” 

“...your permission?” 

“My love.” the Alpha kissed him once, twice. “You’ll never need permission to find answers that help you rest.” 

_...but you have it all the same._

***********

Steve missed his entire life when Colonel Phillips sent the _Valkyrie_ into the ice. 

He missed the dance Agent Carter had promised back before she’d known about he and Bucky, the dance she’d promised as friends after Bucky had fallen and Steve was so broken. He missed taking Bucky’s belongings home to his Ma and singing Amazing Grace at the church for a memorial service. He’d missed growing old, maybe loving again, having a family, making friends, watching the world change-- _god_ , the world had changed _so much_. 

There had been war and victory, triumph and tragedy, sweeping social change and the reminder that just because _laws_ changed didn’t mean hearts and minds did. Mutants were all but extinct, or in hiding like Tony and Pepper. Alphas filed down their fangs and Omegas muted their scents. Clothing had gotten comfortable and technology had gotten frightening. Alcohol was stronger though it still didn’t get Steve drunk. The internet was both helpful and horrifying with everything it offered up for consumption. Deep dish pizza was incredible and god help him, how did they come up with so many ice cream flavors? Despite Tony’s endlessly full freezer and access to food from all over the globe, Steve was still finding new ice cream to try and he would _never_ get tired of it. 

The Alpha had missed so much under the ice and even after a month living in the Tower, he was no where near catching up on the important things, not to mention no where near catching up on the _unimportant_ things like-- 

“Captain Rogers? Can I come in?” 

\-- unimportant things like how it was normal in this century for an Omega as beautiful as Tony to walk unescorted, to control billions of dollars and a company with hundreds of offices without needing permission from any Alpha, not even his mate. Tony had gone to school for not just one or two degrees, but multiple doctorates at the most prestigious universities. _Unheard_ of in Steve’s day. He had access to military intel no civilian should ever see and if the internet was to be trusted, the Omega had actually _invented_ most of the gear modern soldiers used, up to and including the actual computer Steve spent so much time at every day. 

\--unimportant things like how the Omegas in the forties covered up their neck to avoid drawing any unwanted attention from Alphas, but Tony wore wide cut collars on purpose, happily showing off his collarbones and the silvered imprint of Pepper’s bite and a swatch of porcelain perfect skin that made Steve’s fangs _ache_. 

\--unimportant things like how the only time Steve didn’t miss Bucky right down to his _soul_ was moments like this when Tony knocked at his door and offered him one of those heart stopping _smiles_.

No, that wasn’t _unimportant_. Tony’s smile was the single most important detail of the Alpha’s entire _life_. 

“Omega.” 

A month in the Tower alongside Tony and Pepper had taught Steve to move slowly, to dial his reactions back to something approaching _normal_. He measured his speech, counted each breath, hid his fangs, and worked very hard to ensure nothing like what happened that first day when the Omega _collared him_ ever happened again. 

“Omega, come on in.” Talk slow and move slow and be _careful_ , and Steve held his breath when the beautiful mutant stepped up close and reached to brush just lightly over his cheek. _Christ_ , even the simplest touch had the Alpha’s knees weakening, chest rumbling with the need to growl in greedy approval but Steve swallowed it back and held his breath, nosed into Tony’s palm and tried not to shiver quite so visibly. “I--- I mean, Tony. _Tony_. Please come in.”

“Captain Rogers.” Tony’s dark eyes twitched gold for a second before he whispered softer, “ _Steve_. How are you today?” 

The Alpha’s knees really did get weak then, sending him stumbling back into his chair, legs splayed and head rolling lax. Incredibly the Omega _followed_ him, stepped between Steve’s knees and went right back to touching him lightly, just gently, almost _tender_ like maybe Tony felt fragile the way Steve felt fragile every time they touched..

Tony’s fingers pressed there and gone at Steve’s pulse, counting the heartbeats and feeling the slight swell of the Alpha’s unmarked bonding spot. He was being extra careful today, extra attentive and if Steve hadn’t been so thrilled over just a simple touch, he might have noticed the Omega trembling, might have noticed how Tony’s eyes were wet at the corners like he’d been _crying_. 

“Are you okay today?” Hushed, almost reverent as if no one else needed to hear them talking. “Having a good day?” 

“God, I--” Steve’s throat jerked, and Tony moved to trace the motion. “‘M’just fine, honey. Are you alright?” 

“Yeah.” Breathless, _dazed_ and the pair stared into each other’s eyes for far longer than necessary before the Omega finally shook himself and pulled away several steps, dragged up a separate chair and tried for a smile that didn’t seem quite so _longing_. “Yeah, I’m just fine. How goes today’s attempt at readjusting to the current century?”

“Um.” The Captain blew out a short breath and sat up straight again. “I did like Ms. Potts suggested and wore both a hat and sunglasses to walk around the city this week. She’s right, it’s the perfect disguise and I was basically invisible. I stood out quite a bit back in the war, but here--” 

He spread his hands and Tony finished with an amused expression, “You’re just another tall blond guy.” 

“ _Right_.” 

“Not to doubt Ms. Potts idea about sunglasses and a hat being foolproof, but it most likely helps that no one beyond myself and my mate know that you’re out of the deep freeze and thawed to room temperature.” the Omega pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through a few pictures. “How uh-- how’s everything else? Are you sleeping yet? Eating enough?” 

“Same as always, I guess.” With Tony distracted by his phone, Steve tilted his head and let himself just stare, admiring the fit of the Omega’s jeans and the way the red shirt looked so warm against Tony’s skin. _Gorgeous_. **Mine**. “Had two pizzas delivered today. That phone you gave me is amazing, I’ll never get over how phones can bring _food_ now.”

“Okay.” Tony huffed a quick laugh. “Okay but you know that it’s not just the _phone_ that magically orders the pizza you like from the place down the street, right? It’s a specific program on the phone that connects with the company database to--” 

The Alpha raised his eyebrows and Tony waved him off. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. The phone is amazing, you’re absolutely correct.” 

“I think _you’re_ amazing.” Steve murmured, and when Tony’s scent predictably swelled sugar sweet _happy_ , the big blond breathed it deep and let it wrap his senses like _honey_. “What-- what brings you down here, Tony?” 

“What, I can’t come down and see the world’s most lickable Cap-sicle?” Tony teased, but the flare of scarlet in Steve’s eyes had him back pedaling, hands up and quickly apologizing. “Sorry, I know our situation isn’t exactly one for jokes. My bullshit reflex is built right in, no way around it. Feel like I shouldn’t be calling you lickable when we are uh--” 

He gestured between them. “When you and I-- shit-- uh--”

“It’s alright.” Steve flexed his fingers, flexed them again and tried for _patience_ so he wouldn’t order the Omega to come closer like he wanted to do every damn day. “You seem like you’ve got something on your mind though. Let’s move past the Capsicle thing--” Tony flushed and the Alpha loved it. “-- and talk about something else.” 

“Yeah, I actually have a really important reason for being here, and I’m sorry for stalling.” The Omega turned his phone over in his hands a few times, then finally tossed it towards Steve. “I found him, Captain.” 

“Found who?” 

“...your mate.” Tony whispered and Steve went very _very_ still. “I found your mate, your Bucky. I found him.”

**********

The picture was grainy at best, a snapshot from security cameras that triggered a facial recognition software program Tony had created, refined and implemented one late night while Steve ate ice cream and talked in low tones about his mate. 

It was Germany near the border of the Czech Republic, a corner shot near a newspaper stand and the figure caught mid screen was huge, massive for an Omega, big even for an _Alpha_ , well over six feet based on nearby size-relation comparisons and _straining_ at the seams of his oversized jacket. 

Bucky, but bigger and scarier and almost not Bucky at all.

“Bucky.” Steve whispered and the word was almost a sob. “No no no--- _how_ \---” 

“I don’t know how to say this without traumatizing you and breaking my own heart.” Tony said from his seat, hands clasped and head hanging. “So I’m going to throw a whole bunch of information at you ‘Professor Stark’ style and I need you to just listen, alright? Just listen.” 

“Tell me everything you know.” the Alpha kept staring at the picture, at his _mate_ , at his Omega somehow alive eighty years after Steve had seen him fall. “Tell me everything now.” 

“Okay just--” Tony hesitated a moment longer. “Captain. _Steve_. This won’t be easy, and I want you to know it’s not easy for me to say all this, I was sick to my stomach all last night--” 

“Tony.” 

“--and I want you to know that I’m here!” the Omega finished in a rush, put his hand to his heart when Steve finally glanced up with dark red eyes. “I’m _here_ , Steve. If you hear this and it hurts you and you need me? I’m here.” 

“M’pretty sure I’ll always need you.” Steve countered hoarsely. “Now tell me everything.” 

_Everything_ was a tangled mess of stories that put the most absurd conspiracy theories to shame-- Azzano and how there was evidence of experiments on prisoners of war, how Johann Schmidt hadn’t been the first or the last, he was just the most _obvious_ malfunction, how there was enough data to prove within reasonable doubt that Bucky had been juiced at Azzano and more than likely tracked onto the train, that his fall had simply given Hydra an easier way of grabbing him versus having to extract him from the constant watchfulness of one rather fierce Captain America. 

_Everything_ was years of horrifying experiments and mutant serum adjustments that Tony pieced together from mostly blacked out records he’d found in the basement of a basement of a building that had been called a blacksite long ago. It was missions starting in the fifties and spaced out over the decades, cold cases and unsolved assassinations where law enforcement had thrown their hands up and declared it was a _ghost_ and had no idea how close they were to the truth. It was kills on both sides of the globe, every corner of every country, a farmer that had no connection to a politician but was killed the same day the president was assassinated and somehow it all made sense.

 _Everything_ was brainwashing via a diagram of a chair and head gear that had put Tony onto his knees vomiting up everything he’d eaten for the past day. It was a red diary confiscated by SHILED from a madman intent on blowing up the UN headquarters, a list of activation words that had been traced over and over in the throes of mania….

….it was an empty road in the middle of December, a car accident and the brutal murder of one of the last people in the world who knew the ghost’s name, and _that_ had made Tony scream for his Alpha at the top of his lungs but he was okay now. 

He was okay now, but Steve wasn’t going to be okay so Tony had to wipe his tears and keep telling the story. 

Because _everything_ had been the sort of mystery that was never meant to be unraveled and if Captain America had stayed in the ice, the Winter Soldier and all the horrors associated with the name would have stayed in the shadows where they belonged. 

But Steve was _awake_ and Tony had promised to find his mate, so one by one a million little threads had been uncovered and tugged and now they were faced with a picture so unfathomably awful, it had taken all of Tony’s strength just to walk down the stairs and face the Captain with the news. 

“He--” the Alpha put the phone down so it wouldn’t shatter between his fingers. “Bucky. He’s hurt? What’s on his left side?” 

“I can’t find anything that explains his arm.” Tony scrubbed at his face wearily. “But based on that photo and a few seconds of motion I caught on an ATM camera across the street, it looks like a prosthesis. Hydra’s early attempts at bionics. There’s uh--there’s rumours, nothing more than rumours that someone had created a cyborg mutant soldier and unleashed them during the Cold War but I have nothing physical to substantiate it. Nothing except that picture, of course.” 

“You think my mate is the one they experimented on?” Barely a whisper at all. “They told me he was dead, Tony. They told me he was gone and I lost my damn mind. That’s why they put me in the ice, I couldn’t even see straight, couldn’t focus, I was out for blood. Tried questioning a Hydra soldier about Zola and ended up tearing his throat out with my fangs. They-- they--” 

The aforementioned fangs made an appearance, hooked and _dangerous_ as the Captain licked over them. “They told me he was dead and put me in the ice and Bucky was-- he was being hurt this whole time? Used like that? _Why_?” 

“I don’t know.” Tony admitted. “Captain, I don’t know. But I’m going to find out. Took me a solid month to find him using face recognition and it will take at least twice that long to back catalog any other sightings, to comb through possible footage, to find some sort of pattern to his behavior and see if he’s still being used by Hydra--” 

“Christ, I went in the ice for eighty years and when I wake up? _There’s still fucking Nazis!”_

“Yeah.” the Omega winced when Steve raised his voice. “Yeah, and trust me, nobody’s gonna stop you from punching them out, but _first_ I have to figure out what happened between Bucky falling and Bucky showing up on a security camera in Germany eighty years later, okay? There’s a lot of dots to connect but I’ll get to work on it. I will.” 

“How long.” 

“...I don’t know.” Tony scooted his chair back a few inches further from a savage _snarl_. “I don’t know. But I will. There isn’t anything I can’t find out, Captain. I invented half the programs used for data gathering, my Dad wrote the files and started the organization that houses most of the information I’m looking for. I’ll need some time but--” 

“I didn’t fight the Valkyrie going down cos I figured I didn’t have anything to live for.” The Alpha seemed to crumple, broad shoulders folding in and frame hunching. “I’d lost Bucky and Schmidt was gone-- I had nothing. If I’d thought there was even a _chance_ Bucky was still alive, I would have burned the world down to find him. I swear it.” 

“You won’t have to burn the world down to find him.” Tony said quietly, carefully. “Because the Stark name carries more firepower than you could ever imagine and I’ve seen Pepper breathe _actual_ fire when someone pisses her off. We’ll do the searching and burning. You just bring your mate home.” 

“Home.” Steve’s head snapped back up, eyes ringing in hopeful _scarlet_. “When we find him, I can bring him here?” 

“This is home.” Tony spread his hands wide to encompass Steve’s room and the entire Tower. “Whatever it is that makes you and me--” a vague motion. “--feel like _this_ has no effect on anything else. You are home here with me and Pep. Your mate will be home here with us too. No questions, no issues, no second guessing. We will figure it out.” 

_“How long?”_

“However long it takes.” the Omega stood up to get his phone, stepped up close to the Captain and let his hand rest just barely on Steve’s thigh because he couldn’t help the need to _touch_. “Whatever it takes. We’ll bring him home.” 

“Thank you.” Steve wound a thick arm around Tony’s waist and dragged him in closer, pillowed his forehead into Tony’s stomach and closed his eyes gratefully when his mate hugged him back. “Tony. _Omega_ … thank you.” 

**************

Five months to the day after finding a rather frosty Captain Rogers buried in the Arctic Ice, Tony put together the last few dots that would lead them to an _equally_ frosty Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, code name: the Winter Soldier, the frightening end result of decades worth of brainwashing, cryo-freeze and brutal assassinations--

\-- and a wholly lost soul with empty eyes that stared at Tony through the screens in his office. 

“Tony?” Pepper touched his shoulder. “You got quiet on me. What are you thinking?” 

“This picture was taken in Italy.” The Omega began slowly. “Specifically near the historic site _Azzano_ whose continued existence is currently up for argument. Some historians demand it be preserved as both a lesson and a warning to future generations of what happens when human cruelty runs unchecked. Others want it razed to the ground because we shouldn’t keep monuments to cruelty standing, if only to avoid revisiting _trauma_.” 

“Azzano.” Pepper repeated. “The place where Captain Rogers--” 

“--leapt his star spangled ass out of a plane flown by my father and my Auntie Peggy to save his mate, the Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes and a hundred additional men from behind enemy lines.” Tony confirmed. “One and the same.” 

“And?” 

“ _And_ this is the fifth time in a row I’ve caught Sergeant Barnes on this particular camera.” The picture zoomed in and the Omega’s picture clarified further. “Once a month, he’s returning to Azzano which tells me the Winter Soldier is actually the _former_ Winter Soldier. One look in those baby blues and it’s obvious Bucky doesn’t know a whole lot, but he knows Azzano. He knows he’s connected to that site. The fact that he’s coming back again and again means his handlers have most likely cut him loose, and if they _haven't_ cut him loose yet, they are allowing him a concerning amount of freedom.” 

“Which means they aren’t using him as much.” the Alpha finished her mate’s line of thought. “You don’t leave your most valuable asset out in the sun and rain, you keep it protected and locked away.” 

“Is this about me ruining your Mini Cooper by leaving the top down during the monsoons last year?” 

“That’s exactly what it’s about.” Pepper flicked Tony in the air and raised her voice over his protest that the Audi he’d bought as a replacement was a better car. “If Sergeant Barnes is being allowed to return to a place that will no doubt jog his memory, his handler must have all but abandoned him at this point. He must not be a danger anymore.” 

“Or at least not enough of a danger to matter.” Tony cocked his head and took a closer look at the metal limb weighing down the Omega’s left arm. “When Steve brings Bucky home, I’m gonna fix that. Look at how it hangs down low, he’s gotta be in pain. I can fix that.” 

“Of course you will, my love.” she soothed him. “When are you going to tell the Captain? You two haven’t talked much in the last few weeks, is everything alright?” 

“It’s getting more difficult to stay away from him.” Tony admitted through clenched teeth. “It’s hard to search for Steve’s mate while also helping him readjust to life, while _also_ watching him break down over Bucky while _also_ fighting the super obvious urge to let him bite me. It’s _hard_ , Pep. Steve reached for me the last time we talked and I-- I almost went to him. More than how I usually do, I mean. I almost _went_ to him.” 

“Tony…” 

“He needed me and I told him if he needed me, I’d be there.” Tony dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. “But I’m scared if he needs me and I give in that it will hurt _us_ , or that it will hurt him and Bucky and I’m not okay with either of those things.” 

“Oh, Omega.” 

“And a real small part of me that I can’t quite ignore is worried I’ll give in and hurt _myself_.” the Omega touched his heart. “Because whatever it is between Steve and I is more than likely a trauma bond-- he’s imprinting on me because I scent like Howard and Howard was a friend. I’m imprinting on him because of decades of guilt passed on from Dear Old Dad. That makes perfect sense on every level and trust me, I’ve analyzed all of this on every level and if we give in to what is definitely--” 

He pursed his lips and exhaled noisily. “--what is definitely not romantic and just neediness borne of these basically insane situations, if we give in and then he brings Bucky home, if I’m enough of an idiot to reach out and take this, then _you_ will be left picking up the pieces of my heart, Alpha. And that’s not fair.” 

“Hm.” Pepper hummed thoughtfully, let her dragon out enough to turn the quiet croon into a floor vibrating _rumble_. “That does all make perfect sense, and I'd almost believe if if only Captain Rogers hadn’t imprinted on you without scenting you, without hearing your voice, without knowing your name. If only you hadn’t known Captain Rogers in your _soul_ before even finding him, if your eyes hadn’t swirled gold when he said your name.” 

“My--my eyes?” Tony blinked a few times. “Gold? Really?” 

“As beautiful as the day we mated.” the Alpha whispered. “Tony, stop trying to talk yourself out of what _fate_ has determined. This is more than us, it’s more than even time can apparently stop. Two super soldiers eighty years apart finding you and then finding each other? You don’t believe in coincidences darling, don’t try to create one now.” 

“So the next time the Captain reaches for me--” 

“-- remember that I already warned him what would happen if he so much as _breathes_ wrong at you.” she planted a kiss on her mate’s forehead and ran a firm thumb over his bonding mark. “And stop worrying. Go talk to the Captain.” 

“I love you, Ms. Potts.” 

“Mr. Stark.” the Alpha purred adoringly at him. “I love you too.”

***********

**Chapter Notes:**

> _Grid interference is that weird thing when you try to take a picture of your computer screen with your phone and it comes out funky. As screens/tech get more advanced, it doesn’t really happen as much so of course it would never happen with Tony’s tech and it made me lol that he would be offended at Pepper’s suggestion._
> 
> _I am soft to the point of melting for Steve and Tony being so damn affected by each other but trying so hard to keep it under wraps. I love ABO Stony so much._
> 
> _Tony promising he has the power and Pepper has the actual fire to fucking scorch the earth if that’s what it takes for Steve to bring Bucky home is Top Tier. I’m not saying I condone violent displays of possessiveness, but like... sort of???_
> 
> _And of course, Tony’s immediate instinct being to help Bucky regardless of what happened in December 91 is one of my favorite Winteriron dynamics._


	4. Chapter 4

Eventually Steve asked Tony to just forward any video or photographic evidence about Bucky right to his phone. The Alpha spent hours studying each and every picture, marking out routes on a map tacked to the wall, printing out information and spreading it around his room along with snapshots of his mate. It helped to keep him focused, helped to keep Steve working towards an actual goal instead of drifting aimless through the new century and most days-- _most days_ he did okay. 

Most days Steve did okay and managed to go for a run, have meals with Pepper and Tony and waste a little time simply existing. He and Tony’s careful dance around knowing each other and still keeping some distance was both exhilarating and excruciating, Pepper was always available for a cup of coffee or just to sit together as Alphas so Steve didn’t feel quite so lonely, and most days he was able to breathe and not feel like he was strangling beneath the weight of everything he didn’t _know_. 

Other days the pictures and videos spun round in Steve’s head and drove him half insane with all the information he didn’t have, all the questions he would never have the answer to. Those days he paced in his rooms until the carpet started to wear, cracked his knuckles and popped his neck and rolled his shoulders trying to loosen the tension that built and built and _built_ until he thought he’d explode. 

Those days were bad days, and it was a day like that when Bucky appeared on the cameras in Azzano again for the fifth time in a row and Steve decided he couldn’t wait another second to find him. 

_My mate_. 

It was early, maybe four in the morning but Ms. Potts had left for Paris around midnight and Steve hadn’t slept all week anyway, so he took the chance that Tony wasn’t sleeping either and climbed the stairs to a part of the Tower he’d never been in before-- Tony and Pepper’s suite of rooms. 

It wasn’t that Steve was uncomfortable with Pepper and Tony being mated, it wasn’t that he resented the dragon mutant or didn’t trust himself to enter their living space without devolving into some snarling show of possessive Alpha behavior. 

...it wasn’t even that Steve hadn’t been invited because _Pepper_ had invited him several times to just come watch a movie in their private suite, to feel free to use their extra large shower, and with endlessly accepting softness in her green eyes, the other Alpha had once came to Steve’s room and spread one of Tony’s blankets over his bed so he would have something to clutch and scent in the early morning hours when he couldn’t rest and needed comfort.

No, Steve never went upstairs because Tony had begged with hands clasped and tears in his eyes for Steve to leave it be, to let he and Pepper keep that space private. Whatever was happening between Steve and Tony was beautiful but it was _frightening_ and the Omega needed some distance to keep both his heart and his biology balanced. 

The last thing Steve wanted was to stress his little mate out, so the stairs had been established as a _boundary_ and in six months, the Alpha had never once tried to cross it. But this morning he took the steps three and four at a time until he made it to Tony’s door, and prayed the Omega would hear him out before _tossing_ him out.

“Tony?” The boundary existed for a reason and as Tony looked up from his tablet with blankets down at his waist and sleepy skin bared rosy to low lamplight, Steve felt that _reason_ like a punch to the gut. “Hey I-- sorry. I didn’t think you’d be in bed...I guess.”

“Steve.” The Omega put the tablet away and bunched his fingers into the blankets, tugging at them like he wanted to cover up, hesitating like maybe he wanted Steve to look. “It’s four am and you are _not_ supposed to be up here.” 

“I know.” It was a belated effort at re-establishing at least something of the boundary when Steve shifted backwards and put his hands in his pockets, averted his gaze from sleep rumpled hair and soft bedroom eyes. “And I’m sorry. I’m trying real hard to stay away from you Tony but--” 

“But Bucky showed up in Azzano.” Tony finished, inclining his head towards his tablet to show Steve he’d gotten the notification as well. “So you have to go get him. I can have a plane ready to go in two hours, is that enough time?” 

The Alpha made a vague gesture meant to express that he was already ready and the corner of Tony’s mouth tipped up in a knowing smile. Of course Steve was ready to go, if it was Tony’s mate found halfway around the globe he would have been ready to go right this second as well. 

“Do you want me to come with you?” Tony asked then, and Steve’s shoulders slumped in relief at not having to ask. “Okay, I need half an hour to get ready. Wait for me.” 

“Thank you.” the Alpha smothered a quiet moan when Tony rolled out of bed and he was treated to the sight of long legs in barely there shorts. “Uh, Tony, I am sorry about coming up here. I know you said not to and I-- I should’a listened.” 

“Yeah, but going to get Bucky is more important than whether or not you came upstairs, so no harm done.” Tony snapped his fingers towards the closet doors and they slid silently open on their tracks, another motion and the shower started in the bathroom. “And by the way? I don’t _want_ you to stay away from me, Steve. I want to be close to you, too. We just need to take it slow is all.” 

“I can do slow.” The tip of the Captain’s fangs glinted when he sighed longingly at the Omega. 

_Pretty perfect Omega, I’d wait another eighty years for you._

*******

An hour later one of the Stark jets was screaming its way across the Atlantic heading for Italy, for Azzano, for Bucky and for the next thing that would change their already tumultuous life. 

“When was the last time you slept, Captain?” Tony was on his tablet again, but his eyes were on the big Alpha perched stiff in one of the over plush chairs. “I can’t imagine you’ll sleep much after finding Bucky, you should try and take a nap.” 

Steve didn’t answer, didn’t turn from watching the unrelenting _blue_ of the ocean beneath the plane, and after another minute the Omega pressed, “Steve? You want to try and sleep?” 

“I don’t sleep.” came the stilted answer, and the Alpha’s frostbitten scent burned _misery_ in Tony’s nose. “Can’t sleep.” 

“Well when was the last time you tried?” Tony shifted uncomfortably when his entire _being_ twisted trying to ignore the urge to open his arms for the Alpha. “Is there something I can do to help? You’ve been home for close to six months now, I hope you’ve gotten over any shyness about asking me for what you need.” 

“Ain’t a shy bone in my body, Omega.” Steve answered roughly, and then belatedly-- “ _Tony_. Not a shy bone in my body. Just trying to be sure I don’t cross any ah-- boundaries.” 

“Right. Boundaries.” There Tony’s core went twisting, clamming up again. “And I appreciate it. I do. When was the last time you got a decent night’s sleep?” 

“I might have slept a little after I got Bucky from Azzano the first time.” Steve was rubbing his hands down his pants, up and down, _anxious_ , calloused palms dragging scritching over the denim. “He was safe and I was-- tall-- and I’d never been strong enough to handle a mating bond before the serum. After the serum he couldn’t get a bite to stay on me, but we tried like hell. I remember sleeping a little that night.” 

“Jesus.” Tony had known the Captain’s hibernation hadn’t been real sleep and it wasn’t like Tony was a paragon of healthy sleeping habits himself, but thinking about Steve _never_ having had a decent nights sleep ever set his heart to pounding and his scent drenching _sympathy_. “That’s it? Not since then?” 

“How’m I supposed to sleep without my mate, Tony?” Steve turned to rake his eyes over the Omega’s frame from the still messy curls to the pucker of Tony’s lips, the way his pants hugged his thighs, down to the delicate crossed ankles and the way Tony’s toes flexed in warm socks because he’d abandoned shoes almost immediately after boarding. “How’m I supposed to do that?” 

“Shit.” Tony tossed the tablet away and put both hands over his heart when it threatened to pound right out of his chest. “Steve--” the Alpha’s eyes ringed red in anticipation. “ _Alpha_. Come here. Come here and I’ll help you sleep.” 

The Alpha was there in a split second, moving faster than Tony thought was humanly possible, tearing right through his seatbelt and lunging into the little mutants space. A quick thought, a hand motion and Tony slammed the door to the cabin slammed shut so the stewardess wouldn’t bother them just before Steve clutched him up tight.

Down, they went _down_ to the carpeted floor, but before Tony could gasp or brace himself, the Alpha had his arms wrapped round his waist, cushioning him from the blow and bracketing above him like _safety_ and their heart stopped, synced, beat once, twice together when they were eye to eye and nose to nose, Alpha and Omega with only a breath separating their bodies. 

And then--

“Settle.” Tony rucked up Steve’s shirt to get to skin and spread his fingers over the Alpha’s heart. “My Captain, _settle_.” 

Steve settled, damn near _broke_ , collapsed with a desperate sob and only barely managed to roll off Tony in time to avoid crushing him. The Omega rolled in tandem and clambered up over his mate’s thick thighs, straddled Steve’s waist and pushed his nose right into the Alpha’s throat to purr and croon until the sobs stopped racking Steve’s frame.

“Sleep.” he whispered and the Captain’s hands gripped like steel at his waist, his hips, before gentling to something less harsh but just as needy. “My Captain, sleep. I’m here.” 

_I’m here._

Six hours later it was almost time to land and Steve was still snoring, Tony was still straddling the Alpha and crooning soft every time the Alpha shifted, kneading his fingers into Steve’s side and nosing at his throat. 

Tony hadn’t realized how tattered the Alpha’s rose and pine scent had been until it mellowed to something beautiful the longer they stayed cuddling. He hadn’t realized how tired Steve had been until sleep fell heavy over the rugged features and smoothed out the lines between Steve’s brow and the perpetual frown at his mouth. 

Mate sick Alphas were prone to violence and biting, only settling once their Omega was holding them and if Tony needed any more proof that he and Steve were somehow meant to be together, it was right _here_ in Steve gentling under Tony’s palm and sleeping beneath his slight weight, and it was _here_ in the way Tony couldn’t stop purring as his soul shifted and aligned with this particular Alpha. 

_This is more than us._

They kissed when Steve finally woke, an instinctive shift of position to bring their mouths together. The Alpha’s breath caught as he palmed low over Tony’s rear and the Omega hummed and pushed back into him, parted his lips and licked tentatively at the wicked fangs until the Captain groaned-- “Have mercy, Omega. You taste so sweet, it’ll end me. _Mercy_.”-- and gentled the kiss so he could simply hold Tony close.

““I can feel you, Alpha.” Tony rubbed his forehead into the Alpha’s chest, blushing as he finally put words to what his soul already knew. “Right here in my heart. Can you feel me?” 

“Yeah, sweetheart.” A scrape of fangs over porcelain skin. “I can feel you.” 

************

Pepper had arranged for a safehouse to be set up on the outskirts of Azzano. It was modestly sized and beautiful without being flashy, tucked away from the city but not so deep in the woods to be claustrophobic. The cabinets were fully stocked, both the car and the motorcycle in the garage were fully fueled and all three bedrooms and bathrooms were stocked with linens, an assortment of clothes in Steve’s size and then more forgiving sizes meant for Bucky filling the closet. 

It was almost old fashioned, with none of the automatic lights or fancy appliances that filled the Tower. There were no ultra high end blankets or unnecessary throw pillows but instead thick quilts with homey designs and comfortingly neutral scented body pillows on the bed. Plenty of water, a bottle of Steve’s favorite bourbon just for familiarity, the sort of shaving set the soldiers used back in the war in case Bucky wanted to clean up. 

It would be the perfect place for the transition from lost to _found_ , a peaceful spot where Steve and Bucky could reaffirm their bond without the world intruding and stay as long as necessary. 

Tony had uploaded everything new about Bucky’s sightings into his phone, as well as topographical maps of the area and any particular information he thought the Alpha might need, so Steve followed the notes and clues until it led him to a place where the rail road tracks ran into dilapidated buildings, where the river was rank and the people lurking in the shadows might be just desperate enough to try and take on the massive Alpha...because what else did they have to lose? 

It was there in those spaces that Steve stretched his near preternatural senses and scented the air for any trace of sugared plums and evergreen, the same scent he’d breathed in every night of his life up until Bucky had fallen, the same scent he could smell just faintly beneath the stink of old water and filth and _hopelessness_. 

“Bucky? It’s Steve.” He wet his lips and tried to swell his scent _protective_ and _home_ and _safety_ , raising his voice in the gloomy surroundings so Bucky would hear him. “C’mere, mate. I know you’ve been running a long time but I’m here to take you home. Come on out.” 

The scent of plums got a little stronger and Steve tried again, spread his arms wide so he was visibly unthreatening, dug down for every bit of _rest_ and _happiness_ and _smiles_ Tony had given him in the last months and let the memories soften his tone coaxing and encouraging. 

“My mate!” he called out loud. “I’m here for you, Bucky. Gonna take care of you after this, you don’t have to be alone anymore. It’s Steve. Not Hydra, not SHIELD, not anyone who’s gonna hurt you. I’m right here, Omega. Come home with me…”

The words faded away to nothing when Steve caught movement out of the corner of his eye. 

_Bucky_ dressed in worn jeans and heavy combat boots, a red henley stretched across over broad shoulders and worn in spots down the left side. An unnatural gleam of silver showed through the torn patches, and when the Omega clenched his fist, metal joints ground together, tiny plates on the limb rearranging and shifting with the movement. 

“Bucky.” the Captain choked out, laid low by the sight of his mate alive, struggling to comprehend his mate having a silver limb, having long hair, having _white eyes._

_What had happened to Bucky’s ocean blue eyes?_

“It’s okay.” he whispered, for Bucky and for himself. “Oh honey, it’s okay. I’m here now. I’m here. I’ll take care of you. Come to me, can you come to me? C’mere for your Alpha, babydoll, I’m here to bring you back to New York. Do you remember New York?” 

Gravel crunched when the Omega took a step forward, and Steve took a step forward to meet him, eager and anxious and a thousand other emotions the Captain couldn’t quite put a name to that welled up in his throat and threatened to spill like tears. 

“Bucky, do you remember me? Do you know me?” 

“ _No_.”

The Omega moved just as fast as Steve did, maybe even faster, a not quite shadowed but still horrifying mass that detached from the corner and _ran_. But Bucky didn’t run from Steve, he ran right to him, right _into_ him and for a breath Steve thought maybe his mate remembered him--

\--and then the breath was knocked right out of him when the mutant experiment known as the Winter Soldier tackled him into a wall, _through_ the wall and crushed him into the support beams behind it. 

“Shit!” the two super soldiers dug a gouge into the dirt where they landed, Steve on his back and Bucky pinning him down. “Bucky! Stop!” 

Steve dodged the first punch but was too stunned by the attack to dodge a second and his head slammed into the rocks, blood bursting from his nose then his mouth when he bit into his tongue. “Omega! Stop!” 

The Captain rolled to avoid another punch but the Winter Soldier rolled right him, locked his legs at Steve’s waist and almost broke his ribs before Steve managed to wrench free. A step away and Bucky grabbed at him again, locked onto his ankle and yanked him back to the ground, cracked Steve’s cheek bone with a glancing blow and balled up his fist for another attempt. 

“Who are you?” Squeezing, scrabbling, that metal hand smacking Steve's attempts at blocking away and cold fingers trying to get to Steve’s trachea. “How did you find me? Are you Hydra?” 

“I’m not--” Steve blocked a punch and yanked away, growling in frustration. “I’m not Hydra! You know me! You know me!” 

“I don’t know you!” 

“Bucky, listen!” the Alpha popped his fangs and snarled in an attempt to tap into the Omega side that should immediately submit, and he _startled_ when the Omega bared equally long fangs and snarled right back. 

_...Bucky had fangs now?_

“Bucky, you know me.” Steve’s eyes were wide but he tried not to let the jolt of _panic_ translate into his scent. “Mate. You know me.” 

“I don’t know you.” the Omega’s eyes were wide blinding white, winter sky frosted, glowing out from beneath a curtain of long black hair. “And I am not your mate.” 

“You’re my mate.” Steve arched his back and struggled only to have that damn metal arm recalibrate and shove him harder into the ground. “You’re my mate. My Omega. I’m Steve. _Stevie_. You know me.” 

“I don’t know you.” hissed and furious and cutting right to Steve’s heart. “I don’t know anyone!”

“Bucky--!” The Captain tried to plant his feet in the gravel to gain some leverage but Bucky was heavy, he tried to push against the immovable bulk and if— _if_ Steve unleashed some of his feral, if he tapped into everything the serum had given him and raged then he would be able to flip Bucky off but this was his mate, it was his Omega and the Captain would rather die than raise his hand against the one he loved.

“I’m not going to fight you!” He shouted and the Omega _roared_ in fury. “Bucky! Stop!”

_“Who the hell is Bucky!?”_

Hands wrapped around his throat and suddenly he couldn’t breathe, Steve couldn’t _breathe_ and with his body effectively trapped beneath his mate’s weight, lights popping behind his eyes as metal fingers squeezed, the Captain did the only thing he could do--

\-- shoved both hands into the long hair and yanked the Omega in, “Bucky is my mate, _you_ are my mate!” and bared his fangs and stabbed them into Bucky’s throat, bit past too tough skin and into the meat of his neck, dug deep and deep and _deep_ until blood burst bright on his tongue and the Omega howled in shock and surprise. 

“Your name is James Buchanan Barnes.” the Alpha rasped as Bucky screamed and fell away, a hand to his neck to stem the blood. “You go by Bucky, _I_ call you Bucky. You shipped out with the 107th and were captured here in Azzano. I came to get you. Captain America came to get you and then we kicked ass all over Europe and you-- you-- fell from that train and I thought my life was over.” 

Steve pulled himself to sitting and rubbed at his sore throat. “It’s not over though, cos I’m here and you’re here and I’m gonna take you home again. I’m gonna get you home, Bucky. I promise.”

“Who-who the hell is Bucky?” Stopped in his tracks by the bite, forced out of the rage by pain at his bonding spot and visibly stunned by the sight of blood staining crimson on his left hand, the Omega stumbled back and fell to his butt in the dirt. “Is that-- am I--” those eerie white eyes snapped up to stare at Steve, swirled beautifully _blue_ in a split second of coherency before blinking blank again. “--do you know me?” 

“My mate.” Steve wiped the blood from his mouth and nodded. “My Omega. I know you. I feel you right here.” he pounded at his heart. “I feel you, Buck. Do you feel me? Do you know me?” 

“ _No_.” 

… they sat slumped on opposite sides of the abandoned building for _hours_ , the Alpha still struggling to breathe and the Omega gingerly touching an already healed bite at his jugular. The sun was high by now, beating down through the torn up roof but the warmth didn’t penetrate the shadows and chill where two soldiers eighty years past their time sat and watched each other. 

Steve wanted to fight, wanted to force the reunion, wanted to shove his Omega down and bite at Bucky again, wrap Alpha command through his voice and order his mate to know him, to submit because if Bucky would submit and call him Alpha then the Captain knew-- he _knew_ instincts would override brainwashing and trauma and Bucky would know him. 

_Do you know me?_

The white eyes were terrifying, glacial and alien. The fangs were… were unexpected, must have been a side effect of the mutant serum because Bucky’s smile had always been cocky but never sharp, never cutting. The silver arm was heartbreaking, clearly painful with the way it hung low at Bucky’s left side, the grind of gears every time the Omega moved. Bucky used to love a carefully coiffed hairstyle and the matted, shoulder length strands were out of place. He was so big, muscles upon muscles upon bulk instead of the easier, prettier lines Steve used to know so well. 

He used to be so Brooklyn, but now his voice was hoarse from screaming, clipped and terrible and every syllable hurt the Alpha’s heart. 

…”Your Ma’s name was Sarah.” 

It was night again before Bucky spoke raspy and graveled, the stars out, the moon bright and the midnight air frigid.

“You-- you used to bunch newspapers up in your shoes.” 

Steve’s butt had long gone numb, his phone had buzzed in his pocket twice and it was Tony checking on him, but he hadn’t messaged back. His throat finally felt normal again, but the peace he’d found sleeping with Tony for those few hours had long fled and when Bucky spoke mechanical and indifferent about old memories, the Alpha’s heart threatened to break in his chest.

“You like to paint.” Rocks rattled as the Omega shifted. “You like to paint _me_. You used to sneak and do it so we could be naked together.” 

“Yeah, Buck.” Steve thumped his head back against the wall. “Yeah, that’s right.” 

“I keep coming to Azzano cos they captured me here.” those white eyes were terrible in the dark. “They hurt me here. It was the first time.” 

“Wasn’t the last time.” the Alpha whispered, and the Omega agreed, “Wasn’t the last time.” 

Silence again, longer and longer until the air trembled with it. 

And then--

“S-Stevie?” 

“Bucky.” 

“Do ya--” a slip of Brooklyn, fragile and fleeting and heartbreaking as Bucky felt up along the imprint of Steve's fangs in his skin. “Do ya know me?” 

“Yeah, Buck.” The Captain said again, tears clouding up his vision and slipping unchecked down his face. “Yeah I sure do.” 

***********

The sun was rising before either Alpha or Omega spoke again, and this time it was Steve who asked, “Do you know me, Buck?” 

“No.” came the immediate answer and Steve hung his head, but then-- “But I feel you. Right here.” 

The Captain looked up in time to see Bucky lift silver fingers to his heart. “I feel you right here but I dunno what that means. Who are you?” 

“I’m your mate.” Steve pushed up to his feet, stretched sore muscles and wiped the dust from his pants. “Bucky, I’m your mate. Steven Grant Rogers. We grew up together, bonded when we were barely presented, you went off to war with the 107th and I stayed behind with a bunch of rejection slips.” 

“4f.” Bucky clarified. “Rejected cos of medical issues. You used to be small. Real small.” 

“I used to be small.” Steve smiled a little bit. “Not so small anymore.” 

“You came and got me in Azzano.” Bucky pushed his hair out of his eyes, blinked that white gaze up at the Alpha. “You were real tall then. They gave you a cardboard shield with a star on it, some tights, little bit of glitter.” 

“I never wore--!” Steve started to protest, but stopped mid sentence. “How do you know all this if you don’t know me?” 

“Got a star right here on my shoulder.” the gears and joints in Bucky’s arm were loud in the early morning quiet. “After I broke out, I went looking for answers and all the answers about stars and uniforms and soldiers led right to you. Steven Grant Rogers. Captain America. I don’t know you but I read a lot about you and sometimes I think--” 

He swallowed, throat clicking dry. “Sometimes I think I know you. When I broke out I think I knew you for a second, the thing about painting-- I think I know that. But I’ve been fightin’ the noise in my head so much, it gets lost. Thought I knew you when I first saw you standing here but--” the Omega tapped at his temple. “--noise. Can’t hear nothin’ through it.” 

“When um--” Steve didn’t even know what part to start asking questions about. “Where uh-- where were you when you broke out?”

“Hydra warehouse out in SIberia.” Bucky grunted. “They kept me on ice between missions and I dunno why I woke up but I just _awake_ real quick, on the floor and tryna remember how to breathe before I even figured out what happened.” 

“And the noise?” The Alpha made a concentrated effort to not ask about Hydra. Tony could find the answers to that, the Omega had promised all the information Steve needed and all the firepower necessary to right the wrongs, so Steve didn’t have to think about that yet. “What’s the noise in your head?” 

“It’s like a--” Bucky twitched, tilted his head to the side like he could still hear it. “It’s like a wall of noise. Voices. Static. Information. Like a block between who I am as the Asset and who I used to be.” 

“The Asset.” 

“Sometimes they called me the weapon.” He flexed that awful left arm. “Told me I was a hero, changing the world. Sometimes they called me the Soldier. Sometimes I think they wanted t’fuck with me and they’d call me James.” 

“...only person to ever call you James was your Ma when you were in trouble and your sister when she was trying to be sassy.” Steve’s phone buzzed in his pocket again, but he ignored it. “I only knew you as Bucky. I knew you as mate.” 

The Omega was quiet, so the Captain cleared his throat and asked, “Why Azzano, Buck? Why here?” 

“All the stuff I read about you and the Commandos and that kid that looks like me.” Bucky stood too, slow like he hurt, heavy like he was _weak_. “The only thing I recognized was Azzano. Saw the pictures and read the articles and they all talked about that _Barnes kid_ being found behind enemy lines and then how he died on the train and that--” he twitched again. “--that felt like I knew that. Felt like memories.” 

“That Barnes kid is you, Bucky.” 

“Nah, he ain’t.” A smile that was almost familiar. “He’s someone else before Azzano and before the train and before they held me down and tore my arm off and gave me this thing. He’s someone past all the noise in my head and I don’t know him.” 

“...do you know _me_ , Omega?” 

“No.” Bucky closed his eyes and tipped his head back, showed off those new and frightening fangs when he open mouth inhaled the scent markers in the air, and when he looked at Steve again, his eyes were brilliant blue. “But you knew the Barnes kid, and you know me, and I--” 

Bucky’s eyes swirled back white but his shoulders curled in almost soft, his chin dropping almost submissive. “-- I can feel your scent right here in my heart.” 

“Is that enough for right now?” The Captain barely dared hope, but he held his hand out anyway, palm up and fingers curled to encourage his mate to come to him. “Is it enough? Will you let me take you home?” 

It was an eternity before Bucky moved towards him, a whole forever before the Omega lightly lightly touched fingertips to Steve’s palm. “It’s enough.” 

“Jesus.” Steve stammered when Bucky’s scent filled his nose and his mouth started watering. “ _Jesus_ , mate. You-- you smell so good.” 

“You smell good too.” the Omega stepped closer, then closer again and Steve’s heart thudded to a stop when pointed fangs pricked lethal at his pulse. “ _Stevie_ , you smell good too.”

*********

**Chapter Notes:**

> _OKAY LETS TALK ABOUT MUTANT!BUCKY BECAUSE I LOVE HIM. I love the white eyes. How the mutant serum gave him fangs. I love the verse lore we’re going to introduce after he meets Pepper. I love that he has wholly split from ‘that kid Barnes’ and doesn’t know Steve on an intellectual level but he knows Steve in his soul and that’s enough for right now. I love the repeated themes from MTW “can you feel me” and “this is enough”_
> 
> _I am so Mcfreaking Soft for Tony finally letting Steve in. The way the Alpha just breaks down crying because he is finally being held, and then finally sleeps? I could write about that dynamic for another 5k words without even trying. The fact that all the weight Steve is carrying in his heart and soul is eased because Tony is willing to hold him? Fairy Tales don’t hold a candle to that sort of love._
> 
> _Also, we might have to add a chapter to this. I’m definitely going to be over word limit (please, try to contain your shock, I know everyone is very surprised) and I have too much to write for just one more chapter._


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *cue the saxophone noises and make it growly and bitey*

Three days they spent in the safe house, Alpha and Omega on opposite sides of the domicile, opposite sides of the dinner table, opposite sides of _existing_. 

They didn’t talk, not with words and certainly not with touches, not with their eyes or with their bodies. The mutant pair didn’t talk and they didn’t lean close but Bucky never made an attempt to leave the house and Steve never locked his door at night. They orbited like stars, around but not crossing paths, circling the other but never interacting and for twenty four, forty eight, seventy two hours, Bucky and Steve were former mates, former friends, _strangers_ sharing a space but never near enough to share the same air. 

If they had been near enough to share air and listen to each other breathe, Steve would have realized Bucky’s scent was changing every moment they were together. The brittle frostbitten edge eased and softened, the ice melted from the scent of evergreen, that awful metallic that spoke to mutation and mutilation and _blood_ lessened and settled until someone would have to be in the Omega’s throat, inhaling at his pulse and mouthing along his jaw to notice it. 

And Steve-- Steve was never that close to his mate. 

The Captain wasn’t close enough to taste the change of sugared plums in Bucky’s scent, he wasn’t close enough to thaw the ice from evergreen, he wasn’t even close enough to catch the Omega pushing at the long faded spot where Steve’s teeth had once left an imprint. 

_He wasn’t close enough._

The safe house had plenty of room and when Steve first brought Bucky through the front door, the Omega hadn't hesitated to walk every inch of the building so he knew exactly which space was where which space was going to be _his_. It went without saying they wouldn’t be sharing a room, mates or not, friends or not, mutants and soldiers and weapons or not— the Alpha was not welcome in Bucky's space and though Steve didn’t want to admit it, it was a relief to escape those white eyes and all the horrible truths of what eighty years had done to them, at least for a few minutes.

All the ways the Captain had envisioned finding his Omega again, being relieved to be _apart_ had never crossed his mind, but then again Bucky not knowing him had never crossed his mind either.

How could his mate not know him when every cell in Steve's body clamored just to _hold_ him? 

How could they be sharing a house and still be so fucking far away from each other?

 **From Tony** : _My Captain- they say no news is good news but I’m crawling out of my skin needing to know you and Bucky are alright. Let me know._

 **From Steve** : _I like you calling me your Captain._

**From Tony** : _My Captain. I miss you_

Steve missed Tony too, missed the little Omega with an intensity that took his breath away, craved rest in Tony’s arms with a soul deep loneliness that was only compounded by the fact that Bucky was choosing to sleep away from him. Two mates, neither properly claimed yet but still dug into Steve's heart and mind and soul, both close to enough to devour but together -- _apart_ \--they were waiting. 

_Waiting_ as if eighty years hadn't been waiting enough. 

It made sense of course— of course Tony needed to wait. He was bonded with Pepper and needed time to come to terms with having another Alpha, with disrupting their carefully planned and hidden life, with reconciling the Alpha _Captain America_ from the propaganda and films with the Alpha _Steve_ who ran so close to wild he was nearly savage but was still fragile enough to crumple beneath a tender touch. 

And Bucky— of course Bucky didn’t want to sleep next to an Alpha he didn’t recognize, next to a mate he didn’t remember. Of course the volatile mutant didn't want to share space and air with another mutant that matched him size for size and strength for strength. At one time, Steve and Bucky had found comfort in each other’s arms but now each only represented a potential threat to the other and Steve… Steve _knew_ it made sense for Bucky to stay on the other side of the house. 

Two Omega mates, neither properly claimed and after eighty goddamn years all Steve could do was sit and _wait_ for the universe to decide it was time to heal his heart, to soothe the beast that crackled under his skin the longer he went untethered.

Eighty goddamn years and Steve knew he would willingly wait another eighty for either of his mates-- _both_ of his mates to want him. 

He could wait if that’s what fate wanted him to do and after three days, the Alpha had finally made his peace with the decision, which is why it was so damn disconcerting when Steve inhaled alone in his room—

—and exhaled with somebody else _present_.

“Bucky.” All thoughts of _waiting_ fled, replaced with a strangling sort of hope that stole his breath and left the Captain _aching_. “Hey. You can come in, I’m awake.”

“I know.” A pause. “I can hear your heartbeat.”

“You—“ Steve swallowed and worked to regulate his breathing. “You can actually hear my heart beat? Honestly?”

“Minute ago I probably could’a heard you blink.” Bucky was speaking in barely a whisper, too soft for human ears to hear. “Heard your lashes on your face and th’way the sheet moves when you breathe on it.”

It was startlingly intimate to know his Omega knew the sound of sheets on his body and Steve gripped at the blankets tight and tried not to react too— too _longing_. “Shit Buck, that’s incredible.” 

“Language, Captain.” The easy Brooklyn drawl almost did Steve in, almost broke him because hearing his mate talk like _home_ while knowing Bucky didn’t actually remember anything of home was excruciating. 

“It’s funny how people think we didn’t cuss back then.” Steve swallowed again and wondered if Bucky heard that too. “They’ve got this good ol’ boy image of us from the war, act like I blushed and got nervous around the ladies or like the Commandos weren’t the biggest group of bastards anyone had ever—“

“Don't wanna talk about that. Don’t care about that.” 

“Right. Sorry, I--” Steve froze when white eyes blinked open only a few inches from his face. “B-Buck?”

The Omega had gone from sitting somewhere near the door to hovering over the bed, frighteningly close and frighteningly _silent_ and Steve was reminded all over again that while his serum had turned him into a super soldier, whatever they gave Bucky had turned him into a _ghost_. 

A ghost that was clearly Steve’s mate he could have _screamed_ for it. 

This close the changes is Bucky’s scent were unmistakable, the sweetened notes clear and sharp and clouding in Steve's nose like perfume. Despite the distance between them, despite three days orbiting each other but never brushing close, somehow the Omega locked away beneath the mutant serum could still feel Steve, maybe even recognized the Alpha and the difference between how Bucky was in the train yard and how he was now was--was gorgeous. 

Bucky was _gorgeous_. 

Mate bonds were more than time, more than words, more than forever and simply being around the Alpha was bringing Bucky's mind back online faster than six months free of Hydra had, simply breathing Steve's scent and hearing his heartbeat had been enough to stir the Omega to standing, to watching, to needing _more_. 

“I can feel ya.” Brooklyn again and it tore at the Alpha’s heart, made him think of the city long ago and the walk to their crappy apartment and the way Bucky had only ever called him _Alpha_ in a hushed whisper when the rest of the world was asleep. “I can feel ya right here in my damn soul. Under my skin. Make my fangs fuckin’ ache. Wanna bite you. Wanna know you.” 

“You already know me.” Steve took a chance and reached into the pitch black to slip his fingers into the long hair, tugged at the tangled strands and scraped his nails into Bucky's scalp. “Omega, my mate, you _know_ me. I’m your Alpha.”

“Ain’t no Alpha strong enough to be mine.” The Omega hissed and it was a challenge for Steve to prove it, a dare and maybe even a plea. “All th’Alphas Hydra brought me for my cycles—not one of them survived. Not one of them was enough Alpha for me.”

Bucky moved infinitesimally closer, plum and evergreen scent sparking brighter as he spread his fingers wide over the Alpha’s pounding heart. 

“I killed them.” He whispered, and his fangs glinted like silver in the night. “They told me to submit, tried to bite me and I killed them. Tore them apart and stained the floor all messy with the blood till my handlers gave up and stopped sending in Alphas. Omegas ain’t meant to have fangs, aren't meant to be this strong. Hydra _wanted_ me like this then the Alphas told me I was brutal and ugly—“ a growl snapped from Steve's chest at the thought of anyone telling his mate he was _ugly_ and Bucky's fangs glinted again as he smiled.

“I can smell it on ya.” He rumbled. “You want me and something real hungry inside me wants you too. You--“ Bucky licked his lips. “You don’t think I’m ugly.”

“My mate, you could never be ugly.” Steve was quite literally risking his life to sit up and push their foreheads together, to fit his hand to the back of Bucky's neck and run his finger over the curve of the Omegas throat, right where his teeth had once left a silver mark. “You’re gorgeous. Breathtaking. I—“

The Alpha shuddered when metal fingers landed at his bare bonding spot and the slightest scent of _arousal_ tinted the air between them. “Fuck.” He whispered when his throat closed up hungry and raw. “Fuck, Omega. You’re mine. You’re _mine_. I want you.”

“Ain’t no Alpha strong enough to be mine.” Bucky whispered back and this time it _was_ a plea, he was _begging_ the Alpha to prove him wrong, to prove eighty years wrong and love him anyway. “And I’ll kill you if you try.”

“You’re gonna kill me?” They used to wrestle as kids, as teenagers, as _mates_ after Steve's serum kicked in and he could take it. They used to bite and laugh, bruise and tease, bleed and moan and _fuck_ until Bucky lost himself in some hazy, floaty sort of void and Steve thought his heart would shatter with all the love and adoration he’d never be able to articulate to his Omega.

They used to wrestle, threaten each other through their laughter, promise bodily harm while they tickled, best friends soulmates _partners_ and then with blood tinting their kisses red, Bucky used to promise, “I'm yours, Alpha. I’m yours and you’re mine.” 

And Steve used to promise right back— “ _Not even death would keep me from you, my mate.”_

“Not even death would keep me from you, my mate.” The Alpha breathed into the quiet room, and Bucky made a choked, cut off little sound like he couldn’t believe the words, gave a near whimper when Steve's fingers grasped at his hair and yanked. “You gonna try and kill me cos I want you? Go ahead and try. I can take it.”

The moment arced hot and electric, the power shift between the pair immediate and visible as Steve sat up further, got up to his knees in the bed so he and the Omega were eye to eye, nose to nose. The Captain was suddenly tired of waiting, tired of letting some unknown power dictate his life, his love, of letting the universe decide that he should wait and grieve and _lose_ so he met his mate right there on the bed and stared him down. 

Steve was tired of sitting idly by hoping and praying, he was tired of standing on the outskirts for months watching a gorgeous metal mutant tip toe around their attraction, he was downright _exhausted_ after three days of observing Bucky not being Bucky and having it snap at his sanity a little more with every goddamn breath. He was done being patient, done being stable, for fucks sake they had turned him into a weapon, into a monster and he was tired of pretending he was _human_. 

“Go ahead and try.” The Captain said again, and this time it was low and furious and **daring** as he pushed at Bucky's chest, shoved the Omega back into the bed and crawled between the splayed legs. “Cos you are mine and I am done waiting. All done waiting. If you’re gonna kill me for biting you up and marking you up and making you remember home, then go ahead and try. Still gonna make you mine again. I’m not letting you go. Not again. Never again.”

The Omegas eyes swirled sky blue for half a second, Bucky's next breath audibly hitching at the open challenge from the Alpha and Steve grinned, all braced muscles and bared fangs as he leaned down to wrap a hand around Bucky's throat and tell the Omega to _submit_ —

— and then Bucky snarled up at him and the Alpha had the fleeting impression of teeth only _barely_ missing his jugular before he was quite literally thrown off the bed and into the closest wall. 

“I don’t submit for no one.” Dust billowed up from the crumbled dry wall, thick in the air and clogging up Steve's lungs, distracting but not enough to disguise the too sharp scent of an Omega dipping ready for _heat_. The tensed aggression was sliding towards _want_ , the emotional uncertainty bleeding towards _lust_ and Steve gasped open mouthed _starving_ as Bucky stomped at him from the bed, silvered arm swinging dangerous at his side and his scent _ripe_ , the Omega smelled _ripe_ and lush as decades of conditioning broke down in the presence of his Alpha and left them both reeling.

“Oh-hh-hh you’re gonna submit for me.” Steve wiped at his mouth and got to his feet to meet his mate step for step. “You’re mine, Omega. I can smell it on you.” 

They had always wrestled, but this was different, this was the sort of fight meant as foreplay, brutal and bloody and ultimately heady as the Omega’s scent warped frantic and the Alpha’s answering rut heated the air fever pitch. 

_Ain’t no Alpha strong enough to be mine._

Bucky lunged for Steve and the door broke beneath their body weight, Steve shoved him back and they stumbled into the hallway, knocking pictures from the walls and creating cracks that brought light fixtures down from the ceiling, scattered glass beneath their bare feet and left bloody footprints in their wake. Walls dented and caved, a bed in the unused bedroom snapped in Bucky's grip as he tore a post from the frame and used it like a bat, shattering it along Steve's big shoulders. A brick from the fireplace crumbled off in Steve's grip and Bucky batted the pieces from the air. Into the bathroom and porcelain sink busted, pipes broke and water sprayed as they grappled, clothing tore and nails skittered over soaked skin before a support beam gave way beneath a silver fist and they fell through the floor to the ground level. 

They _fell_ and mid air Steve twisted so his back hit first and absorbed the blow, wanting to protect his mate even when the bloodlust was pumping. He got a bite to his face for the effort of chivalry and he howled, kicked the Omega off and then followed Bucky right back over, trying to pin that metal arm down so he could tear the rest of the shirt off and get to skin, more skin, _Christ_ he needed to feel all those muscles rippling beneath warm skin and know his mate was alive _Bucky was alive_.

The Omega arched up off the floor to displace Steve's weight, hooked his fingers in the belt and used the leverage to get his knees free and ram into Steve's midsection. The Alpha wheezed and Bucky scrambled away, slick down his thighs and hurting into his core because he needed— he _needed_ — and he didn’t know what he needed but he knew the Alpha who scented like pine trees and rose petals and _mine_ could give it to him. 

The violence was intoxicating. It felt good to bust through walls, to hurl chairs, to break glass and to connect solid with another body blow for blow. Bucky was so strong now but Steve was strong too, the Alpha was fast but the Omega was nearly _inhuman_. Neither held back or pulled their punches, bruises bloomed and healed, bones cracked and reknit themselves and the house fell to pieces around them as past and present slipped away and for the first time in the better part of a century the mated pair felt anything other than _pain_.

“I want you.” Steve tossed a framing strut like it was nothing, shouldered through the hole in the exterior wall and stomped after Bucky, following the Omega out onto the sprawling porch. “You’re mine, Omega and I’m tired of waiting.” 

“Fuck, you smell good, you smell so good. I want you under my skin.” Bucky shoved both hands in his still damp hair and open mouth inhaled the Alphas rut and fight heightened scent, saw the world in a burst of color as his vision sharpened and the noise in his head faded to the background. “Stevie— Alpha—?“

“Again.” It was nothing more than a split second lapse, a blink of coherency but it was enough for Steve to get right into Bucky's space, to pin the Omega to the guard rail and to grasp his mate’s chin and force eye contact before everything shifted back to _white_. “Say it again. Call me Alpha.”

“Stevie—“ Bucky was wavering and Steve tightened his grip, dug his fingers into the Omega’s skin and ordered, “Say it again! Call me Alpha!” 

He was losing him, he was losing Bucky, the Omega was slipping back beneath the mutant, even the brittle heat scent starting to ease. 

“Damn it, I won’t lose you again.” For the first time since finding Bucky in the rail yard, Steve's voice shook, cracked beneath the strain of _needing_. “I won’t lose you again. I won’t lose you—!”

The Alpha jerked forward and buried his fangs into the tender skin at Bucky's neck, strapped his arms like iron around the Omegas frame when Bucky screamed and tried to jerk away, growled and bit deeper.

_I won’t lose you again._

_You’re mine._

Bucky fought and thrashed, tore at Steve's side and howled in pain and when the Alpha still didn’t let up, the huge mutant snarled something _furious_ and Steve snarled right back—

“M’with you to the end of the line.”

Except it wasn’t a snarl, it was barely a whisper, hardly more than a breath puffed out over the bleeding bite mark, almost a prayer catching on a sob.

“My mate. I’m with you.”

“...Stevie?”

…

…

…

> … _they were young, young enough to still have to sneak away from the house for some time together, stretched out in a hidden grove in a quiet corner of the park, legs tangled and noses bumping as they laughed and leaned in to kiss._
> 
> _Bucky was promising to get them out of the city, away from their families, somewhere quiet where Stevie could paint and Bucky could work, and the blond Alpha was scoffing that_ he _would do it, that_ he _was the Alpha and it was his job to take care of them._
> 
> _“Your job, huh?” Bucky had pushed at his soon to be mate and laughed. “Yeah right, I always gotta pull ya outta fights, don’t I? Let me take care of us.”_
> 
> _Steve went quiet then and the Omega had pushed at him again, gentler this time. “What are you thinking?”_
> 
> _Steve had been thinking about how he was too small an Alpha for Bucky to ever love, thinking about what would happen if he couldn’t take care of them. “I wanna take care of you always, I want you to feel safe with me.”_
> 
> _“I am safe with you.” Bucky had been big for an Omega even back then, but he was pliant and sweet curling into his intended mate. “Where you are, I’m home. I’m with you till the end of the line, promise.”_
> 
> _“Love you, Buck.”_
> 
> _“Stevie, call me mate.”_
> 
> _“Love you, mate. You’re_ mine _.”_
> 
> _They had wrestled there in the sunshine, laughed and grabbed at each other and Steve had knotted Bucky up, blue eyes shifting red and lips moving whisper soft against the Omega’s skin-- “I’m with you--”_

\--”to the end of the line.” Steve was hoarse, clutching at Bucky’s waist, hands hot on the Omega’s bare skin. “I’m not losing you again. I can’t. I _won’t_.” 

_“Stevie.”_

….The first time together was rough, all grasping hands and sharp teeth. Bucky's instinct to _fight_ warred with the need to _submit_ , to bare himself for his Alpha but Steve matched him step for step, touch for touch until the Omega finally went to his knees and Steve got him down presenting, back beautifully arched and knees spread and scent jolting with open _need_. 

“My mate.” the Captain didn’t have to check his strength when he tore Bucky’s pants right off, shredded the thick material and tossed it behind him to add to the mess they’d made of the house. “My Omega.” 

Bucky was sopping wet, leaking slick from his entrance and glistening down his thighs and later-- _later_ Steve would push his face between those powerful legs and suffocate himself lapping at his mate’s hole, _later_ the Alpha would take his time and remember what it was to have his tongue on every inch of Bucky’s skin but for now the Omega was whining and arching back at him, growling and snarling and Steve was growling and snarling right back. 

Later, he would be gentle _later_ , but for right now the blond didn’t even bother preparing his mate, stretching the tight channel around his fingers or coaxing a release from his Omega to settle the wild coursing through their veins. 

_Later_ , he could do that _later_. 

Right now, the Alpha only gathered enough slick to coat his cock then gripped Bucky’s hips in his big hands and pushed and pushed and _pushed_ until he bottomed out in soaking heat, the very beginnings of his knot shoved past the furled entrance and forcing the sweetest noises from Bucky’s throat. 

The Omega was babbling in broken Russian, pleading in a language that might have been German, eyes shut and fingers tearing gouges into the weathered porch wood. 

He was beautiful, distraught, half undone by the weight of Steve at his back and the Alpha took a moment, just a moment to lean forward and mouth a kiss between the strong shoulders blades where pale flesh met unyielding silver in a wicked scar. 

Bucky went still, so still and Steve whispered, “My mate, you are flawless.” then grabbed at Bucky’s hand and squeezed when the Omega hung his head and sobbed. “Bucky, you are flawless. _Mine_.” 

Steve withdrew inch after aching inch, gasping when Bucky’s body clenched at him, tried to keep him deep. “M-my mate--” 

Back inside now, all the way until Bucky was clawing at the floor and choking on his next breath. 

“You’re mine.” another soft kiss where mutant met metal. “And Omega, I am _yours_.” 

The first time together was rough. 

There was a perverse sort of pleasure in bruising skin and being egged in for more, to thrusting deep and being snarled at for deeper. Bucky wouldn’t break so Steve could take him as hard as he wanted, hammering his cock inside the tight hole and listening to every grunt and groan from his mate’s lips. Steve wouldn’t tire so Bucky shoved back onto the growing knot and demand another, again _, make me come again damn you, **again**. _

Bucky's cock was hard hanging down between his legs, bigger than Steve remembered as he wrapped a hand around the width. Bigger but still perfect, still all _his_ and Bucky shuddered with each twist of Steve's wrist, each stroke that lit him up from the inside out and beat against every last wall the Omega had in his mind.

The noise and static in his head dimmed and all Bucky could hear was Steve— the sound of his breathing, the slick of the heavy cock in his core, the weight of the Alpha at his back, calloused fingers at his length. Steve smelled like pine and roses and _home_ , sex and rut and _home_ , time and forever and _home_ and now when the Alpha jolted forward and bit him Bucky’s eyes snapped blue and he was _home_ , his Alpha inside him around him, soothing and claiming, smiling in the sunshine and with him no matter how far he fell. 

“ _I know you_.” 

They were locked together tight, knotted up and worn out when Steve pushed his head between Bucky's shoulders and exhaled shakily, flexed his fingers into Bucky's side and whispered, “My mate, are you with me?”

“M’with ya.” Brooklyn again, and this time it was real, it was wholly _Bucky_ slurring the words and reaching back to find Steve's hand with his own. “Just—just floatin’ s’all.” 

“ _Oh_.” 

The Omega was floating, hazed out in the sort of bliss Steve had almost forgotten about, he’d almost forgotten how Bucky used to get lost on him, sinking into euphoria because the presence of his Alpha stilled his soul and his heart and all that mattered was them being _together_. 

“Oh, beloved.” It was an old fashioned nickname, one Steve used to whisper into the cold morning air when they would cuddle nose to nose to stay warm, one he only used when Bucky was floating like this, when he was gone like _this_ , wholly trusting his mate to take care of him.

“Oh beloved, I’ll take care of you.” Steve closed his palm around the Omegas cock and stroked him slowly, base to tip and just a little tighter at the head. Bucky had already finished and finished again, already splashed the ruined wooden slats with his release but he was still hard and the Alpha could have stayed for hours touching his mate, soothing him while using the gathering wet to smooth each stroke, running his thumb along the underside of the heavy length and mouthing silent words of adoration and _forever_ into his mate’s skin.

The Alpha came again when Bucky did, grinding his still swollen knot deeper as his mate spilled into his fingers, rebreaking already healed skin with his fangs and resparking their bond, not willing to give up until Bucky sagged and slumped and their scents melded in the early morning air. 

“Stevie.” Bucky's eyes were still blue when he turned to look back at his mate. “I’m yours.”

“You’re mine.” Steve's gaze slid crimson all over again. “Time has nothing on us mate, you’re mine and I’m yours.”

“I’m yours.” The Omega repeated, and slumped exhausted as the first rays of sun crept over the horizon. “And you’re mine.”

_Time has nothing on us._

***********

Three days of distance and then three weeks of _knowing_ each other, and the day Steve woke up and realized he couldn’t tell where his scent left off and Bucky's scent began--

\--that was when the Alpha knew it was time to go home. 

“What ain’t you telling me about Tony?” Bucky’s eyes were white more often than they were blue, but Steve had come to love the eerie glow and this morning his touch was purely adoring as he stroked his mate’s cheek. “I wanna know about him.” 

“You’ll see when you meet him.” Steve answered vaguely as they boarded the private plane Pepper had sent their way. “You and me-- we gotta talk about it at some point but I need you to meet him first.” 

“He’s why you scent like vanilla when you sleep.” the Omega stated, and Steve paused anxious, waiting for the verdict. 

“I like it.” was all Bucky finished as he settled into one of the chairs. “Like how the vanilla mixes in with us. Is Tony yours?” 

“He’s…” Steve picked at the upholstery for a minute, then looked up to meet his mate’s bright white gaze. “He’s _ours_ , Bucky. _Ours_. You’ll know him when you see him. You’’ll feel him just like you feel me. I’m sure of it.” 

It was Pepper waiting at the airport with a limo to bring the mated pair home, Pepper who was nearly six foot three inches tall in her high heels and wore her golden scales like a second skin today, wrapping up her skin and down her legs beneath her simple dress. She was fearsome and gorgeous and Steve realized he had missed the dragon Alpha the split second before Pepper leaned in to kiss him right on the lips and welcome him home. 

“My mate.” Steve pulled Bucky forward to introduce him. “Omega, this is Pepper Potts, Tony’s Alpha. Pep, this is Bucky. My Omega.” 

“Bucky.” Pepper’s smile dimmed a little when she saw Bucky’s eyes, not in wariness but in a _sadness_ Steve didn’t quite understand, just like he didn’t understand the moment when the dragon shifter put a hand to her heart and whispered, “Omega. I see you.” 

“I--” Bucky hesitated, pushed his hair out of his eyes and looked the redhead Alpha over again before finally nodded and touching his own heart. “I see you too.” 

Tony was on the phone when they arrived at the Tower, but his dark eyes lit _golden_ when he saw Steve and the Omega came hurrying down the stairs to greet them, rattling off a message into someone’s voicemail and then tossing the phone away to all but leap into Steve’s arms. 

“Omega.” Steve breathed and Tony hummed, purred, arched his back and tried to get closer into the hug, determined to make up for three weeks of distance by getting to skin as soon as possible. 

They were _beautiful_ together, an honestly beautifully matched pair and Bucky stayed back with Pepper to watch the Alpha and Omega reunite. 

“Are you alright?” Pepper asked quietly, and Bucky nodded real slow, wet his lips and asked, “That’s Tony?” 

“Mmhmm. Did our Captain tell you about him?” 

“He said I just had to see Tony and I’d know… something.” the Omega shifted uncomfortably when his left arm began to tingle, the metal plates shifting and aligning with out him even moving. “Ms. Potts--” 

“It’s Tony.” she inclined her head towards where Tony was still wrapped up in Steve’s arms, and Bucky startled when _heat_ raced up his arm and he found the other Omega staring at him, dark eyes a wild electric blue. “His mutation is linked to iron and steel and metal, he can feel the atoms in your arm and is already manipulating them. If it hurts, tell him to stop.” 

“No it's’--” Bucky swallowed and from over Steve’s shoulder, Tony’s pretty mouth curled up into a hopeful smile. “It’s the first time I’ve felt anything there ever. It’s amazing.” 

“Tony is pretty amazing.” the dragon tapped at her bottom lip thoughtfully, then lowered her voice to whisper, “Bucky, how long have you been partial shifted into your wolf?” 

The Omega mutant frowned and Pepper sniffed at him discretely. “Animal shifts recognize animal shifts, and that of a white wolf is both fairly ancient and very powerful. Not a surprising choice since Hydra operates mainly out of Germany and Russia, but powerful all the same.” 

“How-- How do you know I’m partial shifted?” 

“Your fangs mostly.” she murmured. “Your size, you’re practically bristling tense, ready to attack. And your eyes. I’ve only known one wolf and their eyes were white when they shifted. Can you come out of partial shift?” 

“No.” the word was thick on Bucky’s tongue. “No, with my left arm and the mutant serum, I’m stuck halfway through. Fangs and white eyes and bigger than human.” 

“Mmmm.” the dragon made another one of those humming noises. “And how long have you been blind? Unable to see when your eyes fade blue?” 

The Omega didn’t answer for a long time, and then finally-- “Don’t tell Stevie yet, alright? I-- I don’t want him to know how broken I am. Don’t want him to change his mind about me.” 

“Oh my love.” Pepper shook her head and reached to squeeze his hand, the press of claws oddly comfortable to the wolf shifter. “Our Captain would never change his mind, but I promise I won’t be the one to tell him.” 

Another moment and the Alpha leaned in to press a gentle kiss to Bucky’s temple, her strong scent soothing something Bucky hadn’t realized was riled in his soul. “And don’t you worry about feeling broken, darling. We have more than enough hands to hold all your pieces together.” 

“....Welcome home, Sergeant Barnes.” 

***********

**Chapter Notes:**

_Soooooo rough Stucky bonding because I love me some Destructive Foreplay. Also the way they just break and hold each other. The soft memories of smol!Stucky. I love them._

_Also, I know I left you all hanging with the knowledge that Bucky is both a wolf shifter and blind every time his eyes turn blue but there just isn’t enough hours in the day to write as much as I wanted to, so it will have to wait for another chapter!_

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##  **Keep scrolling for a Post Credit Scene!**

********************

_Just Outside the Ruins of Old Haven_

_Near the Canadian/US Border_

“Wade?” Peter called for his mate as he ended the call on his phone and put it back in his pocket. “Alpha my Alpha? Did Tony call you? We’ve been playing phone tag for like two months over this new job and it's starting to get frustrating. Ever since he got new super mysterious houseguests, the world’s best billionaire has become the world’s best recluse.” 

There was no answer from his mate, and the Omega sighed, dragging his hands over his face. Wade was most likely out with the horses or fixing up the goat pen again because somehow they had managed to not only have a bitchy goat a hundred and fifty years in the past, but also a damn Houdini goat here in the present and honestly-- _honestly_ Peter had been reconsidering his stance on goat stew lately. 

“Dadadadadada.” the sound of baby babbling in the other room had Peter straightening up with a ready smile, his honeysuckle and lavender scent already dipping _settled_ as he went to fetch Baby Ellie from her crib. “Dadadadadada?” 

“Oh hello beautiful.” the Omega clicked and purred at his daughter, curled her into his chest and hummed down into her sweet face. “Look at your cheekies, I think they get bigger every day! What has your Papa been feeding you? Has he been sneaking you snacks while my back is turned?” 

Ellie was almost five months old, plump and darling, drooly and adorable, the best part of Peter’s life and somehow able to bring her over six foot tall, two hundred forty pound plus Papa to his knees with nothing more than a gummy grin. She was an actual miracle, a little soul that would never have come to be if Peter had stayed in Haven, if Cable hadn’t been willing to bring Wade to the future, if Wade’s healing factor hadn’t been lessened just enough by time travel to allow him to father a child. 

Ellie was _perfect_ and even after five months of diaper changes and very little sleep, Peter’s heart still did somersaults in his chest holding her tight. 

“Let’s go find your Papa, beauty.” Peter kissed her forehead and tucked her in closer. “Then it’s right in the bath for you. You smell like milk and diapers and that shouldn’t be as cute as it is.” 

It was bright outside, and the Omega shaded his eyes as he looked around the yard for his mate. “Alpha?” he called. “Ellie needs a bath and you should take care of it for me! Because _I_ want a bath too and I _know_ you want to take care of...that…” 

The words trailed off and Peter took a step back towards the house when he caught sight of a _stranger_ on their property. “Who the hell are you?” 

Ellie gave a little baby gasp when she saw the stranger and Peter frowned when the little girl all but wriggled out his arms, squealing excitedly and holding her hands out in a _gimme_ motion. 

“No little love.” he whispered, and held his daughter a little tighter before raising his voice, “I said, who the hell are you? We don’t take kindly to people snooping around our property and there’s no way you just _accidentally_ found us so--” 

“She’s Wade’s baby, isn’t she?” 

“--what?” not sure if he was more anxious about the question or the way Ellie kept squealing and reaching for the female Alpha, Peter took another step back, and then another. “How would you know that?” 

The stranger tried to smile, swept her fingers through short spiked hair and pulled a leather vest down a little further over her stomach. She was undeniably gorgeous, even by Peter’s rather biased standard, all lean lines and long limbs with dark eyes that looked like they should be crackling with mischief, not welling with tears and despite the myriad of tattoos and piercings, she looked fragile, almost breakable as she whispered--

“She looks just like him-- looks just like what I thought ours--” the Alpha touched her own stomach briefly and something _awful_ twisted in Peter’s core. 

“...Who are you?” 

“My name is Vanessa.” the Alpha whispered and Peter thought his knees would give out even as Ellie squeaked happily and tried to grab for her like she _knew_ her. “And that cab driver Mr. Lee told me I could find you here.” 

… _Vanessa_. 


End file.
